Hunted (1)
by WriteCrazily13
Summary: Peter Parker (Stark, really) is Tony Stark's son, as well as Spider-Man. And the Avengers are searching for him. This isn't going to go well.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Nah, I don't own Marvel. Or the storyline. The plot kinda loses itself though. Sad times.**

**This was originally on Wattpad, but I got encouraged to share it on here ;) tell me what you think!**

**~ Prologue ~**

Sometimes, Peter really hated his dad.

Usually, he adored him. He had been adopted at the age of ten, and even then he had understood most of the scientific references that Tony would make.

Oh, didn't he mention? Tony Stark was his father.

He'd always kept it hidden. Hidden from classmates, hidden from reporters, hidden from his best friends. Not that he had many friends, of course.

Peter Parker - Stark, really - was orphaned once at the age of five, and again once he was ten (nine, technically, but he preferred to not think of those months alone). Tony Stark had vowed to make sure that never happened again. Not that he could do anything.

He spent his first five years of his life with his parents, enjoying his life, discovering new things ever day. He'd been an inquisitive kid, always asking questions, often ones that didn't require an answer, or ones that his parents simply couldn't answer.

Both of his parents were scientists, until one day his father brought him to his uncle and aunt's house and told him, firmly, that he and his mother were leaving, and to stay safe, not worry about them. They'd be _fine._

Peter, it was sad to say, completely believed that lie, and was anticipating the time when his parents would come home. It took a full month and a plane crash being on the news to make him finally break down into is Aunt May's arms.

The next five - four - years were spent with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

They weren't too into science - Uncle Ben made up his own formula - _WGP-GR, which meant with great power comes great responsibility. _Peter had laughed.

Aunt May tried her hardest to cook and clean and do everything else, adding the time for work, but eventually Uncle Ben had told her off for doing so and split the chores between the three of them - Peter being seven then - and obtaining a job with a higher income.

That was how Peter lived for the next year or so. Right until a robber shot Uncle Ben, and Peter had seen him, and if he had tried to stop him as he left, tried to do something, anything, nobody would've died that night.

Aunt May had comforted him, telling him it wasn't his fault, that he was only eight and that Uncle Ben would have put up a right fight even if the robber hadn't gone after him. Uncle Ben had always hated seeing others in pain.

And then his one last string from his family was cut, and he was all alone, with nowhere to go. He suffered in the streets for several months - he'd had his tenth birthday out in the cold, pouring rain, but he couldn't help but tell himself that he was in a better position than his mother, father, aunt uncle - until a nice, motherly woman finally forced him into an orphanage.

He stayed there for about a week before he escaped. He doubted if they even noticed.

It was only a few days after that when he caught Bruce Banner's eye. The man himself was struggling over a complicated formula and, Tony Stark had said, needed to grab a coffee from the nearest place he could find. That's why he was seated outside; a coffee in his hand, rain sprinkling down onto him, eyebrows crinkling as he tried to work it out.

(Although Peter suspected he didn't do that, because the tower was a half an hour walk from the coffee shop. He felt that Bruce went far away so he could continue and Tony wouldn't criticise him for it.)

_"It's easy," _the small, youthful voice spoke. _"Just don't look at it all together. Look at it separately, and then you'll find the answer!"_

Bruce Banner was shocked when, after taking the kid's advice, he worked it out in moments. He turned to the short person standing behind him.

_"What's your name?"_

_"Peter. Peter Park - oh my gosh, you're Bruce Banner!"_

That was the start to their friendship, and they'd quickly begun to meet up at that same coffee shop - Peter had never bothered to learn the name - every week, until Tony Stark _(Tony freaking Stark) _came down along with Bruce.

Peter's eyes were wide and he stuttered with every word he spoke.

_"Y-you're Tony S-S-Stark!"_

_"And you're the kid Bruce won't stop nattering about."_

Tony had insisted on learning his name, and the next time he saw the man, he seemed to know more about himself than he did. One thing was for sure, though. Tony Stark wouldn't let him stay there any longer.

He had sprung the question on him suddenly, and it took mere moments before Peter was hugging him, tears leaking out of his eyes, asking _really? Really?_

But now, a fourteen year old Peter grumbled as his father started on a topic he had grown to hate.

"Seems like Spider-Man's in the paper again."

"So?"

Peter wouldn't have spoken like that to his mentor and father if he hadn't known him for a long amount of time. Quite frankly, his father was annoying him with the Spider-Man talk all the time.

"He shouldn't be hailed as a hero - he's not a villain, don't you say it Pete, but he's definitely not a hero," Tony grumbled.

"Okay. I agree," Peter said, surprising Tony. Usually he disagreed with everything bad Tony had said about Spider-Man - it had gotten so bad that Tony was beginning to wonder if Peter had a crush on the guy.

"Wait a minute before you carry on. I agree because he's not a hero, he's a vigilante. He's not a villain, either, but not a hero. He saves the people who don't usually get saved - the muggings, killings, everything. They're stopped by him."

"Stop right there," Tony instructed. "A vigilante is on the wrong side of the law. They do things their own way, often doing it wrong. They don't care what they do, as long as their end goal is completed."

"Come on, dad!" Peter groaned. "Do we seriously have to have this conversation every morning? All I'm saying is that Spider-Man's like a voice - a voice to the people who don't have one. He saves all the little people."

"He's on the wrong side of the law, Pete," Tony said. "He has power. And because he has power, he's a threat. We don't know what he could do with it, and that's why he's dangerous. A threat."

All Peter could do is glumly nod.

**~Hunted [1]~**

**As you can see, this chapter is actually pretty short. Sorry! I swear they get longer in the future, don't worry!**

**I know this was published on a Friday (UK time) - technically Saturday, it's twenty to one, but I'll be publishing the next chaoter on Thursday. Maybe Sunday or Monday, if I get enough revies *wink wink***

**To be honest, the only reason I care about reviews is because I want to know what you think. I don't care if I think it's good or bad or whatever, it's you guys that count okay?**

**Thank you! I hope you enjoyed!**

**(All review responses will be at the top of the next chapter, by the way ;) )**


	2. One

**Disclaimer: I dunno if you've noticed, but this is fanfiction. 'Nuff said.**

**Review responses below:**

**Ahsokalives2223 - thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it ;)**

**AvengersRBetter - I guess I'm glad about that? Figure out your life soon, though XD**

**Konoewpl - I'mma be honest, that start was just a normal teenager reaction. Wouldn't you get annoyed if your parents/guardians were hovering over you all the time? And yeah, they definitely will :) and I'm happy you're looking forwards to it!**

**Childishkidd7 - To be truthful, when I first saw your review I smiled _so _wide. I really appreciate that compliment! I don't really think I'm a good writer, but I'm glad you think so ;) And thank you so much!**

**Also, thank you guys for following this story and stuff! I appreciate it :D**

**~ One ~**

Peter had finished his day at school quite quickly, it had gone faster than he thought it would have - although that could be because he was fast asleep in most of the classes.

"Peter!" Ned exclaimed. "You've gotta stay _focused, _man. I get it, you're working for Tony Stark - damn, you're working for _Iron Man, _but you need to stop sleeping in class all the time!"

"You know the internships a lie, right Ned?" Peter chuckled, putting his books back in his locker. "I don't want people to find out about you-know-what just yet."

"And you don't want Tony Stark to find out you're -"

Peter shoved his hand over Ned's mouth, glaring at him. Ned gave an apologetic look. Peter turned, shutting his locker.

"Sorry, man," Ned said. "I slip up, you know that."

"Yeah, I know. But - what if he's placed a," his voice went quieter, "listening device on me. You _know _he doesn't trust me as much as he says he does."

"Which is dumb, for him. You know, you've been his son for _four years, _I think it's time to take the listening devices off now." Ned purposely made his voice louder, so as to make the listening device able to hear him.

He wanted to get Tony Stark on a guilt trip. As if _that _would happen.

"Why would he be annoyed, though?" Ned asked. "He's a superhero - he revealed his identity, what, twenty minutes after he first created the persona? You're rescuing people, the little people. Why on earth would he get angry at you?"

"I don't know, buddy," Peter said, shutting his locker, wincing as he got his finger stuck in it. He quickly opened it again, taking his hand out carefully, before hiding it in his pocket. It would heal soon enough, anyway. "Because he's afraid I'm going to die?"

"As if you're not a massive target as the son of Iron Man anyway," Ned muttered. Peter shoved him.

"It's not as though anyone knows though, Ned. I think it's because he believes Spidey's a menace - I blame Jameson. Dad's _gotta _stop watching him. It's really bad for my reputation."

Peter grinned, striking a Captain America pose.

Ned laughed, before pulling Peter out of the school, Peter groaning.

"I never put my books away - wait - I did - never mind! No, we need to go _left, _Ned._ Left._ Yes, that way. Then left again - _no, you other left!"_

**~ Hunted [1] ~**

Once he got home, he smiled nervously at Tony.

"Hey, dad."

"You think I don't trust you!" he accused Peter, pointing at him. Peter rolled his eyes.

"How would you know that?"

"Because I heard it with the listening device I placed on you- okay, I see what you're getting at." Tony gave a sheepish grin, then straightened up. "What's this I heard about Spider-Man, hmm?"

"Spidey?" Peter gave a grin, waving his hand at Tony as he moved past him toward the kitchen. "Oh, he's great, you know, he invited me out for pizza the other day. Amazing man, you know. Quite spectacular."

Tony gave Peter an unimpressed look. "Seriously, Pete. I'm worried about you."

"What do you mean?"

"You say that Spider-Man's a menace, say that it's because I watch J. Jonah Jameson, then say it ruins your reputation. How could Spider-Man ruin your reputation?" He spat out 'Spider-Man' as though it were something he'd rather think less about.

"Because - because - because I take pictures for the Daily Bugle!" Peter stuttered out the first thing that came to mind, which was luckily true if his dad decided to check.

"I thought you quit a few months ago?"

"I just said, I've told you he's a bad boss, but I wanted to get money for myself. I don't want to be using yours all the time."

"But you could be doing way better than that!"

Peter silently congratulated himself on changing the subject so quickly.

"I know that, dad, but it gives an alright income - could be better - but I can't do anything about that."

"You could be working for Stark Industries."

"And people would accuse you of favouritism because most of the employees here know that I'm your son - and you've literally _threatened _them so that they don't tell anyone."

"So?"

"Your reputation would go up in flames, dad. I can't have that happening because of me."

Peter left the conversation there, and went to his room. He put his bag down and quickly pulled his clothes off, revealing his suit beneath it. It had taken him a lot of work, science and other things to make it the way it was today, but he was very proud of it.

It was spandex, of course, it was easier to move around in, had the classic red and blue and he even managed to add a few features to it, such as an AI and having it tell him if he had any injuries he hadn't noticed yet.

Although, he was pretty sure he'd notice if he had a knife wound. Then again, he didn't notice he had it last week, and entered the building with blood running down his leg.

It wasn't a pleasant sight, apparently.

Tony was going insane, mothering him _(he always thought Steve was the mother hen in the Avenger family) _and checking to make sure he hadn't done anything worse to his leg before getting there.

Peter had just given a sheepish grin and awkwardly ran off, not wanting Tony to see his accelerated healing in action.

He geave a smile at the thought of his father caring for him, before it diminished when he heard a scream.

He pulled on his mask and web-swung into the city below.

**~ Hunted [1] ~**

_"Sir, Peter has left the tower."_

Tony ignored the statement FRIDAY had told him, before it registered in his mind.

"Peter's done what?"

_"Mister Stark has left the tower, sir."_

"How? Never mind, FRIDAY, pull up the security footage in Pete's room."

_"Doing so, sir."_

Tony waited a few moments, before slamming his fists on the table.

He was worried for his son - he'd gone to his room, he watched him go! How did he get out - unless he jumped out of the window? But why?

"FRIDAY?"

_"Sorry, sir, but it seems as though Mister Stark has disabled security footage for his room."_

Tony felt a small sense of pride for his son working out how to hack FRIDAY, but quickly squashed that with anger. How dare he hack the AI?

Tony straightened up once hearing the radio, throwing away all thoughts of his son aside _(he'd probably just doing an experiment with his things - he probably just doubled back after Tony left -) _and called for his suit.

The last thing he heard was the radio reporting a scene.

_"And Spider-Man has been shot! I repeat, I repeat, Spider-Man has been shot. He has managed to tie up the criminals - he is just about to leave - Iron Man? Iron Man has showed up, although god knows why. He appears to be - fighting Spider-Man?"_

**~ Hunted [1] ~**

**You're welcome for the cliffie ;) this'll be updated every Thursday, by the way! Also, I swear, the chapters DO gradually get longer as you go along. It starts off as one thousand, then you had an extra two hundred, then five hundred, then another one thousand, then soon it's up to three thousand words! So don't worry :D**

**Anyway, thank you for reviewing! I'll respond next chapter! I appreciate the feedback ;)**


	3. Two

**Disclaimer: There's this thing called a brain. Maybe you should use it and look at the name of this website ;)**

**Review replies:**

**Childishkidd7 - I'm glad you enjoyed! This is a pretty decent chapter, I guess XD stuff goes on, and it has a good cliffhanhger XDDD**

**Miss Gaming - Trust me, it goes a whole lot different than you'll think...**

**starcrossed2000 - Awww, thank you so much! I'm so happy you think I'm a good writer, I kinda hesitated about putting this up here, but I'm glad you think it's good ;)**

**~ Two ~**

"Woah,woah, buddy," Spider-Man said,holding his hands up, "could you stop attacking me please?"

Iron Man gave him a cold look (or maybe that was just the face plate of the armour) and spoke for the first time in the battle. "You are a threat, Spider-Man."

"You're kidding me, right?" Spider-Man tilted his head slightly, making an adorable puppy-like expression, only realising afterwards that his mask was on. "I'm like a puppy! I don't harm people, no sir."

"Spider-Man, look around you."

Spidey did so, finally taking in all the damage around him. He deflated somewhat, looking smaller than Tony remembered, more childlike. He shook himself out of it.

_He's just trying to get your sympathy. _

"Wow," Spidey breathed, eyes darting about as he saw the destruction. "I swear I didn't mean to do this, not at all Mr Stark, I promise!"

Tony's eyes softened slightly at the tone of Spidey's voice, then shook himself again.

_He's going to betray you._

"Stand down. Turn yourself in. It'll be best for all of us." Tony tried to ignore how much Spidey was like Peter - because Peter wouldn't betray him like that, that wasn't his kid, not at all.

"I'm sorry, Mr Stark, but I can't do that," Spidey said, turning away. "I've hurt enough people already, I may as well save more."

"Don't bother. The crime rates have gone up since you came here," Tony snapped, finally sick of the other superhero not listening to him. "Just leave!"

"I can't." This time, Spidey lifted up his mask slightly, showing a sad smile. "When you can do the things I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."

With that last thing being said, Spidey pulled his mask back down and swung off, leaving Tony standing on the sidewalk, awestruck.

"I'd better check on how Pete's doing," Tony murmured, distracted, flying off. Luckily, he had FRIDAY on autopilot, otherwise there would have been much more destruction in the city.

* * *

Peter panted as he finally got home and changed back into his usual clothes - a science pun and some casual trousers. He lay in his bed, acting as though he had been there this whole time, a comic book lying on his chest.

He glanced up as he saw Steve enter the room.

"Hey," he greeted, picking up the comic book in favour of talking to the man.

"Hello, Peter," Steve said, softly sitting down on his bed. Peter felt the uncontrollable urge to scream at him to_ get the hell off my bed, _but he didn't want to deal with Cap's 'language' talks again.

"What do you want, then?" Peter asked, finally accepting that Steve wasn't going to go away. "I'm busy, have homework to do soon."

That was a complete lie.

He wasn't going to do the _homework._ Really? He'd given it all in a week before and done the next three weeks in advance - he needed to get his grades up. His dad had been pretty annoyed when they lowered because of hero work.

"I need to talk to you," he said, looking nervously around the room. Peter'e eyebrows crinkled in concern - Steve _never _looked that worried. _Never._

"About what?" repeated Peter, curious for real now. "Is it about dad? Bucky? Is anyone hurt?"

He stood up, startled. "Is anyone_ dead?_ No! Don't say Clint's dead. I haven't gotten him back for our prank war yet!"

Steve gave a small chuckle, still seeming out of character but Peter's small rant cheered him up.

"No one has died, Pete, don't worry. Actually, I'm here on behalf of your dad. He's worried about you." Steve looked at him as though he were trying to figure out all of his secrets.

Peter sat back down on the bed, uncomfortable with the stare.

"Why would he be worried about me?" He gave a nervous laugh. "I'm perfectly fine, there's nothing wrong with me, why would you think there's something wrong with me? Has Nat put you up to this? Is this revenge for me stealing her revenge on Clint? I regret it, you know."

"Peter, calm down," Steve ordered in his official tone, sounding more captain-like than ever. Peter was glad he'd got him back to his old self, but he was worried at the way this conversation was going.

"I'm fine. I'm calm. Totally."

"Look, Tony's worried about you because you've been acting different. Your report card came this morning, Pete, and you got your first ever B. He's afraid you're changing."

Peter stared at him in horror.

"A _B? _But - I get straight A's! You're kidding, right? I can't have ruined it!" he declared, slightly trying to move the subject on.

To be truthful, he didn't really care that he'd gotten a B. If he still tried hard in science, he could still be a scientist, and even if he couldn't, he had his hero work in front of him.

"Don't worry, Peter," Steve repeated, sounding like a broken record. Peter's eyes narrowed.

Tony's suspicious couldn't have began with a report card. There was no way. He had gotten B's in classes before - granted, not very _often, _but he had _before._

It must have started before the field trip. Before the field trip, Tony had been really anxious about letting Peter go to Oscorp.

_"They'll have probably found out that you're my son," _he said, tying Peter's tie on him for the fifth time even though the boy had clearly stated he could do it himself.

Peter had laughed it off. _"It's fine, dad! This has been a secret for ages, that's not going to stop now."_

When Peter had come home with tears streaming down his face, being helped by Ned, Tony's eyes grew worried, before they grew dangerous.

He'd immediately suspected Oscorp of doing something to his son. The fact that his son would be perfectly fine in the morning before the field trip and suddenly fall ill directly in the middle of it - it didn't fall into the coincidence column.

The next day, when Peter had been as good as new, Tony's suspicions had grown even more. Someone couldn't possible go from throwing up and flinching every time someone poked them (courtesy of Clint) to being fine the next day.

It just wasn't scientifically _possible._

Peter shook his head, trying to disperse the thoughts, before he realised Steve was still waiting for him to reply.

"Look, nothings wrong with me," he said, not giving him direct eye contact. He could never lie to anyone - not directly looking at them, anyway. "Tony's just worrying for no reason."

He softly pushed Steve out of the room, not using too much force - which clearly meant Steve had allowed it - and pulled out his laptop, collapsing on the bed as he typed into the search bar.

_Failed Oscorp experiments - spiders._

* * *

**And that's a wrap, everyone! (hey, look, I learnt how to use line breaks :P aren't you proud?)**

**As you saw at the beginning of the chapter, I replied to your reviews :) I can't be bothered to PM, so yeah!**

**This'll be updated again next Thursday, straight schedule! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this, by the way ;)**

**See you next Thursday! Bye!**


	4. Three

**Disclaimer: I don't even have a smart comment to make this time. Doesn't the 'disclaimer' part make it clear?**

**No reviews, sadly, but oh well. I only ask for feedback or whatever, or you can even say whatever pops into your head XD. Have a great day!**

**Also, thank you for the favourites and following and whatever!**

**~ Three ~**

Peter slammed his computer screen downwards again, groaning as he hit his head on the desk again. Hard.

"Are you okay?" He heard someone yell, most likely Tony, although Cap had protective tendencies too.

"I'm fine! I jus- _ ohmygodgetitioutofmyroom - _Dad! _Dad! Tony! Come quick!" _Peter screamed as he backed into the corner of his room, shaking.

He heard hurried footsteps coming towards the room before he heard the door handle shaking up and down.

"Oh my go- FRIDAY, unlock Peter's door!" Tony commanded (Peter recognised his voice, it was definitely Tony) as he jiggled the door knob even more.

_"I apologise, sir, but this door can only be opened by Mr Stark's authority."_

"Well, I'm a Stark too, damnit! Let me in, Fri, he could be dying for all I know."

Tony was definitely stressed out. Peter didn't help him any more by screaming yet again.

_"Oh my god it's coming closer, dad!"_

"Pete, just open the door!" Tony yelled, banging on said door as hard as he could.

"Oh - oh yeah. Right. Right. FRIDAY, open the doo- _it touched me! It touched me! Fri, open the dang door!" _Peter screeched, jumping up and running to the opposite side of the room, landing in his bed and wrapping himself with the blankets.

Tony ran in, checking the room for burglars and/or evil serial killers.

Or Deadpool.

Nothing was there. He gave Peter a sharp look.

"You almost gave me a heart attack, and it was for a prank?" he shouted, leaning against the wall with his hand held over his chest.

Peter was still shaking and there was one lone tear running down his face. He backed off against the wall by his bed and shook his head, quivering.

"What is it, Peter?"

"There's a - a - a spider!" Peter yelled, spotting the minuscule creature as it crept out of its hiding spot and climbed up the walls.

Yeah, Spider-Man was afraid of spiders.

Tony gave him an unimpressed look.

"Really? I came rushing in here because of spiders? Seriously?"

* * *

After Peter's small _(massive) _panic attack, he walked out of his room, discontent with what he had found.

There was _nothing_ about failed spider experiments. At all.

It took Peter a moment to realise it, and he face palmed as he did, walking straight into a wall as he did so. He yelped, falling onto his knees, before leaning against said wall and putting his head back.

"Of course," he muttered quietly, mindful of all of the listening devices in the tower. "They won't just reveal to the public that they made illegal spider experiments. I need to hack. Dang."

Sighing, he walked into the elevator, going to the communal floor.

"Hi. I'm going to grab food. Bye." He gave an uninterested look at the Avengers sitting at the table before he grabbed an apple, going to the elevator to leave the building.

"Wait, Pete," Clint spoke hurriedly, as though there were something extremely important he had to say. Peter paused, one leg in the air, before he turned around, looking directly at the archer.

"Hi."

"What side are you on for the war?"

"Another war? Seriously? Well, tell me the teams then."

To anyone else, it would appear that the Avengers were planning on having a war and that this teenager didn't really care, but not exactly.

"Okay, so on one team it's me, Tony, Nat, Rhodey, Sam and Scott. The other one is Steve, Bucky, Wanda, Vision, Pepper, and if the Guardians are back on time, then we'll have Quill and Groot and they'll have Gamora, Rocket and Drax. So, what do you think?"

"You get the tree guy? 'Cause that's really good. I can think of a million prank ideas by just having him."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yup. I'll join your side in the prank war."

Yes, the Avengers had prank wars. And whatever side Peter was on usually won, so he was determined to win this time also.

"Anyway, I gotta go now, I'm gonna be late if I don't hurry."

"Peter, it's Saturday," Wanda called. "You don't have school today."

"I know!" he said, rolling his eyes as he continued his path to the elevator. "I promised Ned that we'd meet up by his house today."

"Oh, Okay. See you!"

* * *

Once Peter got to Ned's house, the two greeted one another and played video games for about an hour before bidding goodbye to Ned's mom and leaving to go to a coffee shop nearby.

"So, are you going to tell Tony Stark about your _other _job?" Ned asked, looking at Peter intently.

"Probably not. I'll have to, obviously I'll have to, one day. I'm going to try and stop that day for as long as I can though."

"Yeah. I get it. He's really overprotective, he probably wouldn't let you be Spidey anymore, would he?"

"Obviously not, Ned!" Peter gave his friend a small glare before saying, putting his head down onto the table. "Sorry. It's just harsh, you know? I live in a family of superheroes and I can't even tell them I'm one of them. As well as the fact they _hate _me -"

As Peter finished his sentence, his spider sense went off. He looked around carefully, taking in every detail, before giving a small yelp.

The last thing he saw was a massive fist coming toward his face before he fell unconscious.

**~ Three ~**

**Yeah, that's all. If you hate cliffhangers, then you may as well hate me ;)**

**By the way, I'm so sorry this wasn't published on Thursday :( I was actually busy for once XD I'm usually not... Basically, my little sister was ill the whole week, so I've been making sure she's okay, as well as my dad, _who refuses to rest, _my guitar lesson, scool, and my sister's birthday. Not the little one. Two older ones.**

**So yeah, I have a _lot _on my plate at the moment. But never fear! I'll try my best to get the next chapter out on Thursday, okay?**

**Also, the review thing. I'd like them, not because I'm greedy or anything (nope) but because I really appreciate feedback. And CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, please. Not 'I hate this' or anything. I wanna know why :) I'll respond and everything!**

**Also, there's a small torture thing in the next chapter. I'm gonna put a warning, but I'm wondering if this story should go up to a T because of it?**

**That's all, see you soon!**


	5. Four

**Disclaimer: I'm sick, okay? I don't wanna sleep though. So I'm here :)**

**Heir of ice - Awww, it's not perfect but thank you for thinking that 33 My writing has definitely gotten better from when I started fanfiction, that's for sure XD I was going to update on the Thursday, actually, but I was more sick then so... yep.**

**1611227 - Aunt May died :( my friend's got so annoyed when they read that...**

**Spideyfangirl123 - can't tell you who punched him, I'm afraid \\_(^-^)_/ feel free to end them when you find out who they are, though ;)**

**Also, thank you so much for the follows and favourites! Seeing them along with the reviews really makes my day :D**

**ALSO: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS TORTURE! I WILL BE PUTTING A WARNING JUST IN CASE!**

**~ Four ~**

When Peter woke up, it was to being strapped down to a table in a lab. He spied a dark figure wandering around and he felt the sickening sensation of guilt, trauma and, worst of all, the distinct feeling of self-loathing.

Instead of wallowing in it, he spoke up, wanting to know what had happened as soon as possible.

"I'm not an outlaw."

"I know, Parker. I know."

The response scared him slightly, if he was honest. The deep voice _(perhaps he'd call him 'Dude'. It took him a whole two seconds to think of that) _knew his name. It scared him.

Honestly.

Dude glared at him. At least, Peter assumed he did. He looked in his general direction and made a small growling noise, so...

"Why am I here? What's so special about me that you _had _to kidnap me?" Peter questioned.

"I didn't have to kidnap you, Parker. No, not at all. I simply _chose _to."

"What are you going to do to me?" For once Peter felt pure fear. He didn't know who this person was, why they wanted him, why they kidnapped him. Maybe he was after Tony Stark, maybe they knew his secret identity.

Was that even possible? He was so _careful, _nobody would've been able to find out!

All except - all except - oh no.

There were only three people who knew his identity. Three people, out of the entirety of New York. Two of them would harm him with it, yet they'd keep it to themselves.

The other? He would simply look out for him.

Peter begged that it was the other. If it were the first two, he wouldn't know what he would do.

Perhaps he'd be killed.

No. That would be a blessing.

"What am I going to do? I'm going to hurt you. Badly. Hurt you do much that you'll _beg _for death. But I won't give you the pleasure.

Okay, so that ruled out the 'other' one. Now it depended on the two remaining. Either one wanted to kill him. Neither would be kind. He had no way of finding out.

Although perhaps it _was _someone who wanted revenge on Tony. It would make sense, but how would they be able to figure out that he was his son? And besides, if they really knew that, they'd call him Stark, not Parker.

So it was definitely one of those two people. Or perhaps it was _both._

The thought physically made Peter shudder.

"Who are you?"

"I'm not going to _tell you, _Parker! Do you think I would have gone to all the extremes of hiding my identity, disguising my voice, remaining in the shadows, just to _tell _you?

"No, I'll be the last figure you see before you die. I'll be sure of that."

"... Are you Deadpool? Playing a trick on me? 'Cause if you are, it's going a bit too far. I think I'm late to school."

"No, Parker. Now shut it, unless you want things to get much worse than they already are."

"Who are you? Tell me! Are you Vulture? He trapped him under a building, you see. I don't think you can do much better than that."

_"No, _I am not the Vulture. He is a very close companion of mine though, I must say. In fact, he helped me discover your identity before he went to prison... Will that help, Parker?"

* * *

Peter didn't know how long he was there for. Perhaps it was weeks, months, years, maybe he'd only been there for a few days yet it felt like a million years.

He didn't know.

He almost forgot who he was. He didn't have too much time to think for himself nowadays, he was too busy being tortured.

He hadn't found out who the mysterious torturer was yet.

_Dad. My dad. Tony Stark. That's right._

He shook his head, ashamed he had almost forgotten the man he loved most of all in the world.

He shuddered as he felt a cold breeze enter the room.

"Are you ready for the next round?"

**[TORTURE SCENE COMING UP****]**

Peter yelped as he felt the familiar electricity course through him, although he tried to keep the screaming to a minimum. Of course, Dude - he was seriously going to have to rethink that name - just kept cranking it up until he finally let out an anguish filled scream.

"Well done," the voice whispered in his ear, dark, evil, and strangely familiar.

Peter struggled to remember his past villains, his past life, his parents, his _name. _The torture was too much for him.

_Peter. Peter Stark - isn't it Peter Parker? He calls me Parker. But my name has to be Stark. Right?_

Peter knew what was coming up next and he whimpered slightly at the feel of the sharp being by his shoulder. The man took no time at all in carving in it, but he slowed down slightly, wanting Peter to feel every bit of pain he caused him.

"Argh!" Peter yelled, arching his back slightly, hating the feel of the object in his shoulder. The man left it in there for an unnecessary amount of time before picking it up and shining a light on the wound.

**[TORTURE SCENE ENDED]**

"Does that help you figure out who I am, Parker?"

* * *

The boy flinched as the man entered the room yet again. He couldn't remember anything about him, other than the name the man had given him. Or perhaps it was his name? Who knew?

"Parker, are you ready?"

Parker nodded, still wincing at the pain in his shoulder that had been inflicted only a couple of days before.

_Parker? That seems familiar... May? Ben Parker? No... That isn't right... They aren't here anymore. I have nobody._

All of a sudden, a bunch of people came rushing into the room. One of them, he had a very familiar scent on him, went straight for him. In fear, he held his arms up over his face, not wanting any more pain than he had already had happen to him.

"I was waiting for you to come," the man said smoothly, silently walking over to Parker. "But it's too late. He doesn't know who you are. He doesn't know who _he _is. And besides..."

The man lifted up Parker's shirt (which he was surprised to still have) sleeve, revealing the mark on his shoulder.

_Property of HYDRA._

**~ Four ~**

**Hope you enjoyed :) I wonder if I need to change this book's rating to a T because of this chapter?**

**Yeah, I'm sick :( but who knows, maybe you'll get another update?**

**(I've had to empty my bin - trash can for some - twice and the two plastic bags I've used are full XDD I've used so many tissues...)**

**Hope I'm better by tomorrow though, so I can see Far From Home :) anyone else going to see it?**

**Usual: review so I can get feedback, I don't mind if you do or don't, blah blah blah, have a nice day :)**


	6. Five

**Disclaimer: Sixth (technically, if you include the prologue) chapter in and you haven't got it yet? I don't own this, sorry :(**

**Review replies:**

**sarahbeth453 - Um... I've actually been sick, which is why I haven't been updating on time...**

**Guest - Yeah, I didn't want Tony to know since so many people have it like that and I'm pretty sure Tony would be really overprotective about Peter XD I'm glad you like it!**

**foxchick1 - Feel free, I'm sure he'll love it :) *passes Peter to you***

**Heir of ice - KEEP IT STEVE APPROPRIATE (sorry I'm a mini Steve) - but it was for a good reason so I guess you can be excused... As you can see, this chapter came quickly! That's mainly because I wanna get this back on schedule :) Thanks, I wasn't sure if putting HYDRA into it would make it too... you know, predictable. Thank you! I feel much better than I did.**

**On your left - Yeah, I've had these written for a while before I figured to add some more things, but don't worry, they'll get longer in the future! I'm glad you enjoy my writing! I'm trying my best to post on time, the first week I forgot, I'll admit ;) second week I was ill :( but I'm better now, so everything should go back to normal :)**

**saraj8ne - Yeah, I wanted to add a little bit of spice ;) I know, sometimes I feel bad when I torture Peter like this... At the same time, I know for sure what'll happen :D**

**See, I'm back to normal! Whoo! Hopefully this schedule will stay like this ;) (Said schedule will now be on Saturdays, since I just realised how busy I am during the weekdays lmao)**

* * *

**~ Two ~**

Parker knew, at one point, that he'd fallen unconscious. There seemed to be a theme with people taking him while unconscious thing going on.

He also knew that the man he knew as Tony Stark had taken him.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, and generally the things he heard when he was awake weren't good.

_"Damn, the beeping is getting..."_

_"... can't you do someth- ..."_

_"... doing all I can, Tones..."_

_"... just want... son..."_

_"... -ter! Peter! Don't you dare flatline on me n- ..."_

Parker didn't understand most of the things that were spoken. What would happen if the beeping was doing something wrong? Someone couldn't do something - so what? He was trying his best, apparently. Someone wanted their son.

One thing he _did _get (but he still found mildly confusing) was the flatlining part.

This person - Tones, someone had called him - was worried about a person named Peter.

Parker felt a sudden headache at that.

_Peter._

Wasn't that his name?

Yeah. Peter Parker. Right? It must be. It made sense.

_Peter. _It made sense in his mind, although he still had a migraine. He supposed that was from his injuries though, it was too be expected.

Before Peter - he still felt strange using that name - fell back unconscious, unable to deal with the pain that was filling his body at the moment.

* * *

_"Bruce, I..."_

_"... -ony, his heart is going back to..."_

_"... he... okay..."_

_"... be fine... no... injuries..."_

He'd woken up to voices yet again.

This time, Peter refused to fall back to sleep again. He forced his eyes open, wincing at the light, before he pulled himself up.

"Wha's goin' on?" he asked, squinting at the people in front of him.

"Peter? Peter!" one of the men exclaimed, jumping up and down (much like a child) before he remained being - somewhat - professional again. "You're awake!"

"Yeah," he murmured, finding it hard to keep his eyes open. "Who... you?"

The man's happy expression died down and he gave the man next to him a solid glare, before sitting by Peter's bedside and holding his hand.

"Pete, don't you remember me? I'm Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Your _dad."_

Peter's head hurt as he thought of the name, but one thing was certain. He gave the so called _Tony Stark _in front of him a sharp glare.

"I don' have... dad," he spoke harshly, ignoring Stark's heartbroken expression, "'n fact, 'm sure the'e's nobody at all. My dad died."

Stark's eyes seemed to dim even more at his improper speech. Perhaps he was one of those grammar maniacs? That must be it. He wouldn't care for _Peter Parker, _now, would he?

Even just thinking _Parker_ gave him the creeps.

"Bruce!" Stark turned on the man next to him, maybe he was annoyed because he couldn't remember anything. But why would he be angry at that?

Ah, he must know useful information. No one would care so much about him otherwise.

"You said he was _fine,"_ he said furiously, holding out his arm as though he were ready to call some backup in. "You said that he was all healed up - almost - and that he was perfectly _fine! _This -" he gestured at Peter, "this is not _fine!"_

"Tony!" Bruce yelled, trying his hardest to get the guy's attention. He succeeded. "I said he was _physically _fine. He may hurt for a few more days -"

Now that he thought about it, his arms felt rather sore, as though he'd been bound by something - rope?

"- and I can't do anything about that, but otherwise he's _fine. _Mentally, emotionally, however? I can't do anything with that. I apologise, Tony. I know how much he means to you."

Okay. They _definitely _couldn't be talking about him now. He didn't mean anything to _anyone._

"Look, I get it," Tony (Peter gave up on calling him Stark - Tony seemed more natural in his mind) sighed, forgetting about being mad at the other. "You can't fix him. He'll just have to... wait. Wait, and he'll be fine. Yeah."

"S'rry," Peter said, feeling out of place as he spoke up, "bu'c'n I have a drin' please?"

Tony nodded immediately, casting him a concerned look, but rushed out of the room, soon returning with a bottle of water in his hand.

Surprisingly, Peter devoured the bottle of water. It seemed as though he hadn't had anything to properly drink in _ages._ He simply hadn't had a chance to do so.

He breathed heavily after that, having gulped it down in one go. Thankfully, his throat seemed less dry and he could talk normally, more or less.

"Thanks."

"It's nothing, Peter. I'm your dad. I kinda _have _to do this," Tony joked, immediately regretting his sentence after he'd said it (although he hadn't thought anything was wrong when he first thought it).

Peter tensed up, his eyes wide. He started spluttering apologies, putting his hands through his hair anxiously.

"I'm so, so sorry! I don't want you to take care of me - you don't have to if you don't want to - you can cast me off into the streets if you want to! I knew it! I knew it! I'm just a _burden. _A stupid, stupid _burden."_

His heart rate was increasing by quite a lot, which made Bruce panic slightly.

"Hey, Pete, calm down," he said, speaking slowly, even though he himself wasn't calming - ironic.

If Peter didn't calm down, he could do_ serious _damage to himself - Bruce hadn't checked any head wounds, and by the way he was thrashing around, he'd probably broken some of his stitches already.

"Pete - Peter!" Bruce tried again, raising his voice slightly. Peter continued rocking on his bed, shaking his head.

"No, no, no, no, I'm so sorry, I don't even know who you _are _but I'm already being a burden, sorry, sorry, sorry," he muttered feverishly.

_"Peter Parker-Starker, for heavens sake, calm down!" _Bruce finally yelled. Peter froze at the word _Parker - _his original last name appeared to be a curse now.

He backed away from Bruce. "Don't hurt me, please, I'll be good - I promise - don't hurt me!"

Bruce cursed himself for slipping - they'd heard that _monster _calling him that, no wonder he'd have a panic attack from hearing it.

He wasn't a very lucky boy, if one of his trigger words was his _name._

"- Peter, it's fine." Bruce heard Tony soothing the boy, who was now in tears from what he thought he had done.

Peter was curled up in Tony's arms, shaking very slightly.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, leaning his head into Tony's chest.

"It's not your fault. It's fine. It's fine..."

* * *

**Heya, I'm back on track ;) I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you didn't, please tell me why!**

**Okay, I'mma work on other books now. Byeeeeee**


	7. Six

**Disclaimer: Look, the films and comics would've been sooo much less awesome if I made them. (Stan Lee is, and forever will be, a god.)**

**Review replies:**

**_On your left_**** \- I'm glad XD I don't actually have a favourite chapter \\_(^-^)_/ Yeah, I felt so bad for Tony as I wrote this XD Thank you :)**

_**Heir of ice**_** \- Whoops XD I didn't mean to break you... Yeah, I figured that most people make Peter have amnesia but nothing major really happens to Tony and Peter's relationship, and that doesn't really make sense... Lmao, I do the same, but I finallyyyy finished school! Whoop whoop! I always read fanfiction late though XDD Here's the next chapter for you :)) Yeah, I'm much better than I was... And I did! I loved it, but the mid credits and end credits scenes... Wow. Thank you 3333**

**HIII! I'VE FINALLY FINISHED SCHOOL! WHOOOOO!**

**Side note: Can't update for the next... two or three weeks? I know. It sucks. I'm going on holiday though, so it can't be helped ;)**

* * *

**~ Six ~**

"Okay, so we're training you," Tony instructed Peter. All of the Avengers - excluding a minor few - were standing in front of Peter.

As Peter had had memory loss for quite a while, Tony and Bruce had decided it would be best if they helped him remember who they were.

Peter wholeheartedly agreed with this, as long as he wouldn't get hurt in the meantime.

All of the _Avengers_ agreed, a thing they rarely ever did. In fact, the only times they agreed on something was when Peter was involved.

The boy truly was a wonder.

"Okay, so I'm going to point to an Avenger," Bruce said, "and I want you to tell me their name, a fact about them and - if you can - something you remember doing with them. Got it?"

Peter nodded hesitantly. "Just one thing."

"Go for it."

"What if I can't remember their name? What do I do then?"

Tony took charge of this question. He hoped it wouldn't happen, but if it did he and Bruce had already planned it.

"If you can't remember anything about them, then Bruce and I are going to help you - whether it be flash cards or just spending time with that said person."

Tony noted that Peter flinched at the word flash, although he had no clue why. He didn't know any super villains - or super _heroes _\- with the name Flash.

"Okay. Cool. Got it. Start it whenever you're ready," Peter said nervously, wringing his hands together.

Bruce started by pointing to Clint, otherwise known as Hawkeye. Peter scrunched up his nose, putting his head in his hands as he tried to think. Suddenly, his head shot up, showing a massive grin on his face.

"Hawkeye! Or, rather, Clint. A fact about him - er - he never misses a shot, unless it's Spider-Man, I think. A memory? A prank war - that one where we dumped a bunch of red, white and blue glitter onto - Steve, I think," Peter answered confidently.

Clint gave him a thumbs up, imitating the grin on Peter's face.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed. "And you still remember that prank! That was one of our finest ones _to this day."_

"Continuing on..." Tony said, before he pointed at Steve. Peter didn't even hesitate this time.

"Captain America, Steve Rogers. He's, like, eighty or something, but he looks young for his age. Like, _really _young. I remember you coming home, complaining because Spider-Man stole your shield from you when you were going after him. You really were acting like a massive kid," Peter joked.

Tony's eyes narrowed. Why were most of Peter's facts/memories including Spider-Man?

He quickly shrugged it off, a lot of the things they did nowadays included the arachnid, so it made sense that Peter would recall him - as well as the fact that he watched the news when the wall-crawler was on it.

Him and Peter had both been sitting down together, watching an old news recording of Spider-Man dodging Clint's arrows and stealing Steve's shield.

Despite his dislike for the spider, he found it hilarious when Clint and Steve were caught on _television _with pouts on their faces after they just got beaten by a guy who said puns all the time.

Bruce pointed at the next person, not even giving him a warning this time. Luckily, Peter was ready.

"Black Widow, but I call her Aunt Nat - I'm pretty sure, anyway. She's crazy scary - but also _really _good at fighting. She kicks Clint's _butt. _I remember when she helped me buy Steve's birthday present when I didn't know what to get him."

Natasha nodded, confirming that all that was true. Steve looked touched that she had bothered to help Peter find his birthday present - usually she just bought her own, not helping anyone else with their own.

Bruce pointed to the next person, keeping to a slow but steady speed.

"Scarlet Witch, Wanda. She's my... older sister, or something, right?" He looked so unsure that Wanda came up to him, giving him a massive hug.

"Of course, Pete!" she grinned, placing her arm along his shoulders. "You're the best little bro around!"

"Thanks," he smiled back at her. "She has these _awesome _powers. I think - didn't we - actually - wait, I'm pretty sure that she helped me with my homework once, don't remember what for, but I think..."

Wanda nodded, and Tony pointed to the next person, who was just an image on his Stark phone. The actual guy himself couldn't be here, but as long as Peter remembered who he was...

"Thor. Just Thor. He can, like, shoot lightning from his butt or something. I think I remember seeing him for the first time and going _'damn. I'd totally go gay for him,'" _Peter replied, looking so proud of his answer that Tony was certain it was right.

"Okay, next?..." Bruce looked unsure, so Tony helped him out by pointing to Rhodey.

"Colonel Rhodes!" Peter grinned. "I'm pretty sure you're, like, a boss at fighting. And I remember when you refused to talk to me for a solid _week _until I called you Rhodey."

Rhodey nodded, smiling at the fact that Peter remembered that.

Bruce frowned, before pointing at himself, as he and Tony were the last people in the room.

"Bruce Banner! Or Hulk. But I prefer Bruce," Peter babbled, still excited even though he lived with Bruce now. "As Bruce you're this awesome scientist and as Hulk you... smash. I'm pretty sure we met at a coffee shop, or something, and I helped you with an equation?..."

"That - that was when we first met," Bruce whispered. "You still remember that? I - I didn't think you would... I just assumed that I remembered and you didn't - I thought it was rather - well, that it wouldn't really be important to you. Not as much as meeting Tony."

Peter flashed him a bright smile.

"Of course I would" he blurted, flushing but continuing on with his statement. "You're still one of my favourite scientists, Bruce. And one of my favourite Avengers - no offence, guys."

Clint took mock offence, but the others were fine with it.

They all knew that Peter was a _massive _geek.

"Okay, okay, you remember the big guy, awesome," Tony cut in, wanting to make sure that Peter remembered him. "Do you remember me, Pete?"

Peter scrunched his eyebrows together, thinking hard.

"Er - you're - Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Or something like that. Bruce introduced us, I think. Oh, and you're _Iron Man!" _Peter added at the end, smiling happily.

Tony looked confused, so naturally Peter's grin fell. He wanted to know what was up with the man.

"Do you honestly not remember?" Tony mumbled to himself, but Peter, with his spider senses, caught it.

"Remember what?"

"That - I'm your _dad, _Peter!" Tony exclaimed.

He hoped it was just Peter playing a cruel trick on him, that he actually remembered him after all, that Clint had dared him to do this, but in reality he knew.

Peter wouldn't be this horrible. He knew that Tony was really proud of being his father - at least, he _did._

"Er - sorry, Mr Stark," Peter said politely, although the heartbreak in his eyes were visible. "I - I don't have a dad. My parents died in a plane crash a while ago."

It was obviously hard for him to bring up his parents, and Tony wanted to go over and help him, but all he felt he could do was curl up into a ball somewhere and cry.

Because Peter, _his Peter, _didn't remember any of their father-son memories they'd made together.

He didn't remember that he was his dad.

* * *

**Ha, I'm leaving this here because I'm evil.**

**Um, instead of leaving you hanging for the next two to three weeks, I'mma update this next Friday, okay? That way you guys get a chapter to answer the (hopefully) _burning questions _in your head. **

**That cool? Hope so.**

**Anyways, usual thing, review feedback for me, flames, whatever. Just - nothing inappropriate, okay? No. **

**Bye!**

**(I'm so happy I'm off school ahhhh)**


	8. Seven

**Disclaimer: Have you not gotten it by now? Marvel wouldn't have been so cool if I'd written it... And it would've been a HELL of a lot more angsty. That's all I need to say, really.**

**Review replies:**

**_Heir of ice_ \- I'm sorryyyyy... I just love angst too much XD sorry! He'll remember soon, I swear! I didn't mean to make you sad... Yeah, besides Irondad I have to have his relationship to the other Avengers as well. Some people just add Irondad and no Avengers, and I aim to fix that XD Thank you so much! I ****_am_**** sorry it was heartbreaking, but it'll get better soon. Maybe don't read fanfiction and write out reviews before you go to school XDD I wasn't actually planning any ships to be in this book at all. There'll be small hints, ones that I've already planned out, but, you know, there won't be a chapter of them going out on a date or anything.**

**_On your left _\- I'm glad you like how it's going so far! Thanks, by the way XD I write a lot of deep chapters, so you might want to get used to that... How did you think it was going to go?**

**\- As you can tell by this chapter, I've updated ;)**

**_Wisdom And Sea _\- I totally didn't mean to put that quote in XD**

**Avenger's fan - It's so weird that as you did your review, I was watching Far From Home for the second time XD**

**Hello! I'm posting this the day I go on holiday (which is GREAT but I won't be bringing my laptop with me, which is... yeah. I was just getting back onto my normal schedule as well XD)! I swear, as soon as I get back, I'll do a new chapter :))) I'm going for two weeks, so...**

**~ Seven ~**

Peter didn't really remember much.

He remembered that his best friends were Ned and MJ, and that his family were the Avengers.

He knew that Bruce, Clint, Rhodey, Vision, Thor and Loki were all his uncles.

He knew that Natasha was his aunt and Wanda was his sister.

He knew that his best friend from Wakanda was Shuri. He knew that her brother was the Black Panther (and that him and her often jokingly called him the Pink Panther).

He understood all of that, yet he didn't really know where Tony came into the equation.

But that didn't matter.

Because there was one thing that Peter definitely _did _know. And that was that he was the vigilante known as Spider-Man.

He had been Spider-Man for the better part of six months, how would he _not _remember?

He admitted it, he felt a bit confused when he first woke up, but gradually more and more memories of Spider-Man came into play and he just simply remembered.

Remembered that he had a job to do. He remembered that in the three weeks he had been gone, about, nobody had been protecting the city.

The Rhino had gotten out of prison. The Vulture had too. In fact, many of his enemies had, all except one that hadn't been heard of.

The Green Goblin.

He quickly got sidetracked when he heard the screams.

"Hey, what's going on?" he shouted as he swung down to the area he heard it from.

"Spider-Man!" a voice shouted from the alley next to him, sounding relieved. "We're over here!"

Peter paused, finding the voice familiar in a way, but ignored his gut, instead nodding and walking into the alley.

"Okay, it's fine, who's -" he began, before he stopped.

He _definitely _knew who these people were. And it _definitely _was a trap.

He backtracked slightly, tilting his head.

"Oh, hey," he greeted them, nodding his head, "so I'm just going to go... You know, got things to do... The pizza guy's going to be at my house soon, and I don't want to miss it."

"Spider-Man."

The authority in his voice made Peter stop, though he felt it was stupid.

He was an _adult _when he was Spider-Man, not a teenager who cowered when their parents spoke to them like that.

He coughed, trying to make his voice sound deeper.

"Hmm? What's up?"

He failed miserably.

_I guess this is it, _he thought mournfully. _My voice is never going to be deep. Puberty's been and gone... I'm doomed._

"Look, Spidey," a figure jolted in front of the others, holding out his hands in a peaceful gesture, "we just want to talk."

"About?"

Peter was trying to use smaller sentences now, perhaps if he didn't speak as much they wouldn't find out it was him?

"My son."

Iron Man stepped in front of him, before the suit opened and Tony Stark came out.

Peter found himself stuttering, before he finally managed to speak.

"O-oh."

"Yeah, oh." Tony seemed mad. A mad Tony Stark wasn't what _anybody _wanted; he was _lethal. _"We did some research, Spider-Man."

"Tony, no need to get mad," Steve said quietly, before he turned to Peter. "We do need some answers though. Will you tell us?"

"It depends - what kind of questions you'll give,"Peter said, struggling to get the words out.

"answer, or we'll beat it out of you," Tony shrugged indifferently.

"Tony!" Steve exclaimed, ignoring the other Avengers, who were just standing around, rather bored. Although they had a reason to be.

They thought it would be some epic confrontation, an awesome battle scene with them taking Spider-Man away, finding out his backstory, other things that would be amazing.

But no, the billionaire and the grandpa were arguing like an old married couple. As usual.

"That's unlike you, Tony," Clint put in, before he flinched back when Tony looked his way. His eyes were full of rage.

"Okay," Tony said, anger creeping into his voice, "let's have you lose your child for a few weeks, then finally get him back and not have him _remember you _and see if you won't act like I am."

"Okay, geez," Clint muttered, stepping back, his hands held up in surrender.

"And you," Tony turned his cold eyes back to Peter, and Peter wished with everything he had that he'd look away again, "you'd better give me answers."

"Ask the questions, and I'll see if I can answer them," Peter said, feeling kind of put out.

"I think I'll do the asking, Tones," Rhodey stepped in front of everyone, flipping up the face plate to show everyone he was serious. "No, Steve," he said when Steve made to object. "It's fine, I'll do it. I met the kid first, after all."

Peter gave a small growl. "Can you hurry up already? I have things to do, places to be, people to save."

"Fine, fine!" Rhodey said, glaring at him. "Man, you're impatient. Erm - okay - where were you when Tony's son got kidnapped?"

"Where was I - you do realise that's a _seriously _dumb question, right?" Peter exclaimed. "I couldn't have saved him, he'd be in the _extremely safe building over there, _are you seriously blaming me for his son going missing?"

He'd forgotten to mask his voice, but it's okay, Tony seemed too full of anger to figure out his identity at the moment.

"No, he isn't," Rhodey said, giving Tony a firm look. "He was just wondering. Okay, next question - how come, the whole time Peter was missing, Spider-Man didn't appear at all?"

_Huh, Tony's son has the same name as me, _Peter distantly thought, before the question fully caught up in his mind.

"Uh - well - repeat the question again, please?" Peter spluttered.

"Spider-Man's known for helping out the small people, right? Except you disappeared for a few weeks, and in that time there were lots of muggins, many murders and I'm not even going to mention the amount of robberies."

Peter felt his heart almost beating.

_This is all my fault._

"That - that all happened while I was gone?" he whispered hoarsely. "I didn't think things would be that bad without me, honest. I thought the police would take care of it, or the -"

"The question remains though, Spider-Man," Natasha said, interrupting his spiel of self hate. "Where were you when Peter was taken?"

Peter hesitated, before he finally decided to tell them the truth.

"HYDRA. They got me. I - I don't know how, or when, maybe it was before Stark's son got kidnapped, or maybe it was after. I didn't know that was happening, though. I swear I would've tried to escape quicker if I'd known!" Peter said, lying only slightly.

Of course, he hadn't escaped himself, the Avengers got him out, although he was pretty certain that he was in his civilian form then, and he didn't want them to know his identity.

"Something's definitely going on," Steve murmured, leaning against the wall, thinking hard. "First HYDRA kidnapped Peter, and now they've kidnapped Spidey? What exactly is their plan here? Are they just kidnapping them for the sake of kidnapping them, or is there something bigger going on here?"

"Does - does -" Peter began, faltering slightly when all the Avengers' heads turned towards him, but he continued anyway, "does he have anything special about him? Special powers?"

"Not as far as we know," Natasha said, seeming firm in the idea. After all, she was a spy, how could she miss something in her own house?

"At first, I thought HYDRA kidnapped Peter to get back at someone," Steve mumbled yet again, repeating the phrase louder when people asked. "Maybe to get at Tony, maybe me, who knows? But they've kidnapped Spider-Man too, which definitely adds something onto the scale."

"Maybe - maybe Peter's not telling you something," Peter put in hesitantly, jolting backwards when Tony gave him a dark glare.

"What do you mean?" he growled. "Peter would tell me anything, I'm his dad!"

Suddenly, Peter felt more confident in his words, almost as if he were this man's son - although he couldn't possibly, he'd remember, right?

"But what if it was something that would put you in danger?" he shot back. "What if he didn't want to tell you so he could keep you safe?"

"I don't know if you know this, Spidey," Clint added, wanting to contribute something to the conversation, "but we're the _Avengers. _If anything, we're keeping _him _safe."

"But what if it's something worse than superheroes?" Peter whispered. "What if he had his own villains - what if people were going after him and he didn't tell you to protect both you and them?"

"Why would he want to protect them?" Tony scoffed. Peter gave him a sharp look, although Tony couldn't see it through the mask.

"Well, assuming Peter's a nice person, he wouldn't want to see _anyone _pounded to death by the Avengers, whether it's someone he likes or not. Unless he's not, in which I have no reason."

"Peter _is _bit too... kind, Tony," Natasha said. Tony didn't argue with her.

"Maybe the villain - if this is even right - threatened Peter, so he can't tell you guys. Maybe if he does, the villain will go after you."

After Peter gave the Avengers heart attacks, he thought through it a bit more and shrugged.

"Or maybe it's just a teenager thing."

He gave a small chuckle, before he turned to leave.

"Hold up." Steve used his 'mom voice' again. Peter just _had _to listen.

"Yeah?"

"One more question, if we may."

"Yeah, sure." Peter gave them a small grin, yet they still couldn't see it under the mask.

"I'm... sorry, if this brings up bad memories, but please try to tell us," Steve apologised slowly in advance.

Peter was beginning to regret saying he'd answer all the questions.

_He should've just left when he could._

"What - exactly - did they say they were doing to you?" Steve asked. He obviously thought that if he said it slower it wouldn't have as much of an impact, but it still did.

_Drowning._

_Electricity._

_Water._

_Knife._

_HYDRA._

_Peter._

_Tony._

_Dad?_

_Peter... Stark?_

_Parker?_

_Dad?_

Peter gave a small gasp, though he didn't think it was audible.

"Um - well - it wasn't, like, a whole bunch of scientists from HYDRA, or anything," he said, shaking his head, trying to rid the memories. "It was - it was just one person, actually. I never saw his face. It was pitch black. The only light was the lights from the machines, and he never got too close. But he knew me."

"Did he mention Peter?" Tony suddenly said, wanting to know more information about his son. "Did he mention my son at all?"

"He - he kept saying the name Parker, if that helps," Peter offered, before turning around yet again. "I should really be going."

"It's fine," Clint assured him, although he didn't know why. He would've left anyway. "We have a teenage boy to get some answers out of."

And as Peter left the scene, it suddenly clicked in his mind who the teenage boy was and he swung in the opposite direction, towards the tower.

And he groaned, because it all came rushing back, Tony Stark, his dad, what he'd said while he had a small case of amnesia, the fact that Tony was the _only _person he forgot.

He assumed that had something to do with HYDRA, but cast that thought away for now.

He cast it away as he just realised that he may have just revealed information about himself to the Avengers. Information, that he thought he was making it up on the spot, was true.

Information that he _just _told all of the Avengers, and now they were going to question him.

Information.

**This was a longer chapter, right? I hope so XD it's longer since I'm going on holiday, as said above, and I won't be able to update.**

**I did this chapter because the last one had a cliffhanger, but I think all of my chapters have cliffhangers XD**

**Anyway, I hope you guys have a great next couple weeks without Hunted chapters, please survive!**

**As always, I love your reviews and your feedback, please leave more and give me tips to make my writing better :) bye! See you in two weeks!**

**Edit: I meant to publish this yesterday... But I forgot, so I changed the A/N's a bit and just made it fit :) I did have time today, surprisingly. Unfortunately, I woke up earlier than expected, which is why I have so much time...**

**(It's quarter to seven and I woke up at five and I'm dying right now.)**

**Anyways, bye! (I'll probably be on a plane by the time you guys see this.)**


	9. Eight

**Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Marvel. Although, Marvel did a pretty good at angsty stuff without me.**

**Review replies:**

_**Heir of ice -**_** I'm glad you feel better now then XDD Awww, thank you, you're so kind 3 And I did enjoy my holiday, thank you!**

_** -**_** Awwwww, thank you 333 **

_**On**** your**** left -**_** Yeah, I can't do 'true love' stuff. Nah, I prefer making Peter remember and go "damnnnnnn I forgot ahhh". And thank you, I'm glad my fic is worthy of that XD**

_**Guest -**_** I am, I promise, I was just on holiday for a while :(**

**Note: I love the reviews, thank you 3 only one problem... Please don't write "please update" or "keep updating please" because, honestly, if I haven't updated, there'll be an explanation in the chapter before or I'll get the chapter out as soon as possible to explain. Thank you! 3**

* * *

**~ Eight ~**

Bruce remembered the first time he'd met Peter.

He was sitting in a coffee shop, mind going crazy as he tried to figure out a formula, when a quiet, high-pitched voice spoke up behind him.

_"Um, excuse me, sir," _Peter had said, glancing at Bruce before his eyes darted away again. _"I - I think that if you just - don't look at it as a whole. It's trickier that way. If you look at it in smaller groups, it'll be easier to figure out."_

To his surprise, as he humoured the kid by doing as he said, he worked it out within seconds.

_"Woah, kid," _Bruce had gasped, before turning around and facing the kid. _"Tell me, what's your name? You're really smart."_

_"My name's Peter. Peter Par - oh my gosh, you're Bruce Banner!"_

And as Bruce was about to roll his eyes and go through his usual speech _(yes, I'm the Hulk, I know, a massive green guy who destroys stuff, no I'm not going to show you) _the kid surprised him yet again by continuing speaking.

_"I read the stuff you wrote, Mr Banner," _Peter blurted out, hurriedly continuing on so Bruce would be able to hear what he thought of his work.

Bruce was glad he listened.

_"You know, the gamma radiation? It's awesome! I've read it loads of times!"_

Bruce had looked at the kid with wonder in his eyes, asking the kid the question he still remembered to this day.

_"You understood that?"_

He didn't really know why it remained in his mind as a question of the upmost importance - it certainly didn't seem important, after all. But he supposed it was because that was when him and Peter connected for the first time.

_"Well, yeah," _Peter's eyes brightened, _"it isn't that hard when you think about it."_

When Bruce started doubting his abilities in science, _was it really so easy that this ten year old kid could understand it, _Peter quickly added onto his statement.

_"Oh! But that might just be me. Aunt May and Uncle Ben -" _the kid's eyes filled with tears, but he brushed them off and continued, _"- they always said I was more intelligent than a usual ten year old."_

And as if remembering his aunt and uncle struck something in the kid's mind, Peter backed away slightly.

_"I just remembered," _Peter said, looking at him apologetically, _"but I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."_

Bruce was about to interrupt him, tell him that he _wasn't _a stranger, that Tony had insisted that he had saved the entirety of New York, that he was an Avenger, when Peter's eyes filled with mischief.

It was a look that didn't often appear on Peter's face then, Bruce could tell it was foreign for the kid, but he still carried on.

_"But..." _Peter spoke slowly, as if making sure he heard, _"... if I see you again, next week, at the same time, in this coffee shop, but I haven't made any plans or anything, and I get to know you well... That technically means you won't be a stranger."_

Bruce remembered being delighted as the kid said this, and he vowed to remember this moment; the moment he and Peter had truly met.

He had promised, when his and Peter's meet ups were a thing, before Peter had met Tony, that he would always look after the kid. No matter what.

Well, he hadn't succeeded at that very well, had he?

Bruce felt the Hulk growl at him at that reminder.

Oh well.

Bruce sighed, looking down at his formula _\- "don't look at it all together, sir," - _and continued working on solving it.

He couldn't save everyone, after all.

* * *

Peter hurried into his room, pulling his clothes off, feeling a sense of deja vu. Though this _had _happened before, he had never felt this sense of urgency - it must have come with the risk of losing his identity.

He grabbed a random shirt with a science pun on it - Tony had tried to get him a classy shirt, but Peter had refused - and some jeans from under his bed.

It turns out he did that just in time, as Bruce entered the room seconds later.

"Hey, Pete," he said, shutting the door carefully behind him.

Peter cocked his head, as if silently asking why he was there.

"I was just checking up on you," he said quietly, joining Peter on the bed.

"I - I'm pretty good," Peter stuttered. He cursed himself for it afterwards, _it was so obvious he was lying. _"How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thank you for asking," Bruce smiled at him, before a troubled look came over his face. "Tell me... who is Tony to you?"

Peter looked confused, before a strange look came over his face.

"Is - is this because I didn't recognise him earlier?" he spoke softly, glancing up and staring at Bruce in the eyes. "I - I think it was a momentary thing. I don't know _why _I didn't remember him, but I remember him now, I know who he is now, actually I was just wondering where he was -"

Bruce interrupted him as he spoke, his eyes narrowing.

"Are you telling me you remember who Tony is now?"

"Well - yeah," Peter replied cautiously. "Is - is that not normal?"

"I'm just wondering..." Bruce spoke, mind whirring as he tried to think of a reason _why _Peter couldn't remember Tony earlier. "Maybe this whole thing is bigger than we thought. Think about it - why couldn't you -"

Bruce was cut off as Tony, Steve, Clint, Rhodey and Natasha entered the room.

"Peter."

Tony looked over to the boy, who looked positively as he spoke to him. But why?

He was seriously thinking that Spider-Man's theory of Peter being threatened by a villain was true.

But he didn't trust Spider-Man. Not at all. So why should he trust him with his son's affairs?

Simple. He'd do _anything _for Peter, and he wasn't going to risk this opportunity.

"Well, thanks for your time, Peter," Bruce hurriedly said, standing up from the boy's bed and making his way towards the door, "and that idea you had for the nanotechnology was amazing, I'll have to use it."

Bruce gave Peter a small nod, and Peter suddenly understood.

"Oh, yeah, anytime, Bruce," he said, giving the man a grin. "Later, okay?"

"Yeah," Tony put in, suspicious of them. "I wanna see this too."

Bruce gave him a curt nod and rushed to the lab, most likely to start working on the nanotech again, making more improvements and making it seem like Peter came up with one.

"So, Pete..." Steve said slowly, as if he were trying not to scare the kid, when Clint rolled his eyes and shoved him away, standing in front of Peter.

"Is this whole... thing, with you being captured," Clint said, rushing the last words as he didn't know how Peter would react, "like, a teenager thing? Did you just manage to really annoy some villains with your incredible teen wit and then make them kidnap you because of it?"

Peter blinked.

"What?" Clint demanded. The other's looked at him with confused looks. "It was the most obvious explanation!"

"How - how did you guess so _easily?" _Peter asked, giving a fake laugh, hoping the others would believe it.

_Maybe talking to them as Spider-Man _did _help a little after all, _he thought.

"We spoke to Spidey," Tony admitted, "because we assumed you wouldn't want to talk about it, but you seem... fine?"

Peter gave him an intense look, revealing all the pain in his eyes for one short moment, but it was too quick for Tony to see.

"I'm not fine," he muttered quietly to himself, although it was most likely that Natasha heard. Then he spoke louder. "I suppose they didn't... hurt me enough. Not enough for me to get flashbacks or anything."

Steve narrowed his eyes.

Peter knew he would be the hardest to convince. Other than Tony, Steve had been overprotective with Peter, almost acting like a mom to him, which annoyed him to no end.

But he got it.

This was the _second _person Steve cared for, the second person who had been taken by HYDRA. He knew the effects, he'd managed to get Bucky to tell him some of the things he'd been through.

If a grown man couldn't handle the torture, how could a fourteen year old kid?

"Look," Steve spoke softly, almost gently, as if he didn't believe Peter's lies that he was okay. "I know better than anyone in this room, other than you, what goes on in HYDRA. I know they must have given you _some _trigger words. We need to find out what they are, and avoid them at all costs."

Peter looked at the man, feeling that familiar feeling of tears welling up, _he knew exactly how he felt about this, _before he shook his head, blinking them away.

"I - I suppose," he said reluctantly. He didn't want to show defeat - especially not in front of the _Avengers. _Despite living with them for the past four years, he still believed they were too strong, and he himself too weak.

"Y-you're _agreeing _with what Spangles said?" Tony asked, tilting his head as if begging for Peter to speak to him like he had before. "It's true? You - you have some marks left from that?"

Peter hesitated.

"Well, yeah," he began slowly, making sure he said the right things. "I think everyone would get something mentally wrong with themselves if they went through that. I'm just one of the luckier ones."

"Do you know how many trigger words there might be?" Steve asked. He glanced around at the others, suddenly looking uneasy. "We've got to try find them out. Even if... even if Peter has a harsh reaction, we need to find them out."

Tony's head jolted up, and he looked at Steve with disapproval on his face.

"No way, _no way," _he shouted. "There is _no way _we're doing that! I don't want to see my son in any more pain than he already is, thank you very much!"

Peter had been trying to avoid a confrontation with his dad, as he didn't know how long the memory loss would affect a normal person, but there was no getting away from it now.

"Dad," he spoke quietly, almost silently. "Dad. _Dad!"_

Only when he spoke that last word did his dad stop yelling at Steve. Tony's eyes were filled with hope, and he ran over to Peter's bed, quickly sitting down.

"Can you - repeat that?" he whispered.

"Dad," Peter mumbled back. "You're my dad." He spoke a bit clearer. "Your name is Tony Stark, and I'm Peter Stark, and you're you're my _dad."_

Tony's eyes glistened, though he'd always deny it later, and he pulled Peter into a hug.

Nobody dared to interrupt this. It was a moment. A father has gotten his son back.

And Peter was surprised at his skills to change a conversation topic so easily.

Natasha, from her place in the corner of his room, looked at him with a suspicious look.

Something wasn't right here.

* * *

**Ahhhh that's finally done!**

**So, we know more of Peter and Bruce's backstory now, we already knew that Bruce was the first Avenger Peter met, but now in more detail! And Natasha notices that somethings wrong... Ooohhh...**

**I'll see you next week, and that's a promise XD no more holidays for me, guys. I fell in the sea after I went on an inflatable raft thing and my sister had to hold me up, since I'm not the strongest swimmer lmao... But yeah, I'm kinda done with excitement. I wanna stay in my bed for a week.**

**Have a great day, and I'll see you soon!**


	10. Nine

**Disclaimer: Nah, still don't own Marvel. I'd love to see how much more angstier I could've made Far From Home, though?...**

**Review replies:**

_**Heir of ice -**_ **Woah, you found this fast! Kudos to you! And thank you sooooo much for reading and saying all these nice things, by the way, it makes my day 33 And I'm so glad you love this story so much! It's people like you that make me motivated to carry on :) I'm so happy I made your day better! Yeah, Natasha's a spy, if she can't figure out a fourteen year old's secret then she can't really be a good one XDD I'm glad you're enjoying this whole new turn I've made! Thank you 333 xoxo (I thought I'd try it out lmao... it's totally not my thing)**

_**On your left -**_** Yeah, I figured 'Natasha's a freaking spy, why hasn't she noticed anything yet lmao' and ended up putting that in the end :) Thank you, I did! And thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter :))**

**TRIGGER WARNING: MILD PANIC ATTACK, I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS NEEDED BUT I'M PUTTING THIS HERE ANYWAY - also as I read through this it SEEMS like self-harm, it's NOT. I'll put a warning when I get to it :)**

* * *

**~ Nine ~**

Unfortunately for Peter, Steve hadn't forgotten.

"Okay, so we're going to say random words that we think might link to your time there," Steve said slowly, as if that would help Peter not be terrified of what was coming up, "and if you have a reaction to it, we'll keep in mind to not say it."

"Right. Right." Peter cracked his knuckles as if he were going into a fight, looking around nervously, glancing at anything that wasn't a person stood in the room. "I think I'm ready. Shoot."

"Torture."

Peter's eyes flashed, but only for a second. Other than that, he had no visible reaction, and as no one caught him, then - to them - it was confirmed that wasn't a trigger.

"HYDRA."

That had nothing, although nobody really thought it would. If Spider-Man, who had supposedly been through the same as Peter, could still talk about HYDRA, then people could assume the same would be for Peter.

"Let me think... Oh, I know! Bucky!"

That was from Scott, who had shown up when Steve had asked him to, something about being able to go and get the rest of the Avengers easily if Peter had a harsh reaction to something.

The Avengers that were currently standing in front of Peter were Tony (of course), Steve, Bucky, Clint and Natasha.

Bruce had decided that he would search from in the lab, also adding onto the nanotech so it didn't seem as though he were lying to Tony earlier.

Thor was, obviously, in Asgard. He had said something about Loki faking his death _again _(seriously, the guy needed to get that checked out) and he needed to assure them that Loki wasn't a ghost.

Or something like that.

"Seriously, Scott?" Peter asked, giving him a deadpan look. "Why would I be scared of Bucky? _Seriously?"_

"Er..." Clint struggled to think, putting his hand on his chin before he looked up, eyes brightening. "Heights?"

Peter shook his head this time, not responding to it like he had for Scott. It was plausible, after all. He could've been hung over a building, or something.

It wouldn't have affected him, though. He had spent too much time as Spidey, swinging across the city, for him to be scared of heights.

"Water."

For some reason, Tony seemed certain of this, as though he knew what had gone down during Peter's time there.

Or perhaps he just noticed that Peter's showers were barely a minute long now.

Peter gave a violent flinch, confirming Tony's suspicions.

"Um... yeah," Peter whispered hoarsely, hating the way his voice trembled as he heard the innocent word.

_Drowning._

"Yeah, that wasn't - wasn't my favourite moment there."

Steve nodded, somehow remaining emotionless to this whole thing, though Peter supposed it was because he had already been through it with Bucky.

Speaking of the man, he spoke up after thinking for a moment, eyes narrowed.

"Guys, I don't think you're doing this right," he said, stopping Clint and Scott from saying another word. "We don't know how many trigger words Peter may have - he could have hundreds, or he could just have a couple. We need to find that out first."

Tony gave him a glare _(he'd never really truly forgiven him, not really, but Steve managed to convince him nonetheless) _and spoke himself.

"And how do we do that? Oh, I know, how about we go back in time, watch his torture and see how he reacts to every word his captor said!" he spit out viciously, surprising the others.

"He - he's just trying to help, dad," Peter said quietly. Tony sighed.

"I know. I know."

Nobody mentioned that Tony had neglected to apologise.

"As I was saying," Bucky continued, shooting Tony a sharp glare, "at HYDRA they kept a... log, of sorts. It showed how many trigger words there were. They needed to keep track, or they could end up making too many, and the subject would be unreliable."

"And where's this log, Buck?" Steve asked, looking at the man. "How do we get it?"

**{SMALL TRIGGER}**

"Well, assuming they still do it, it should be..." Bucky said, looking at Peter in the eye. The boy understood. "Pull up your sleeve, Peter, and show us your wrist. Please."

Peter nodded, and did so, revealing three straight lines on his skin.

"I - I remember this," he murmured. Even though he was being quiet, his voice echoed in the room. "He said words, and I reacted, and he made another line. He made one right - right before you guys came."

"Do you remember what he said, Peter?" Steve asked gently, not wanting to cause a reaction from remembering that place.

Peter struggled, thinking of his time there, before he spoke again.

"I - I don't -"

_"Now now, Parker, isn't this nice?" the figure questioned, moving around Peter as though he weren't there, even though he was talking to him._

_"N-not really," Peter stuttered._

_He was unable to remember anything. Nothing._

_He - he didn't have family. Friends._

_Anyone._

_"You're all alone, Parker," he snarled._

_As Peter violently flinched, the figure's snarl grew louder, almost as if he weren't fully human._

_"That's one of the words," he said. And suddenly he moved into the light, just so his jaw would be shown, showing those horrible, yellow teeth, curled up in an evil grin._

_"Looks like we'll have a lot of fun today, won't we, Parker?"_

Peter found himself pulled out of the flashback when he felt someone shaking him; not a good idea if he was in one of the more violent ones.

He felt sweat drip down his back as he apologised, over and over again.

"Sorry," he stuttered, "I - I'm so sorry - I didn't mean to - I really am _sorry."_

"Shh, Peter," Tony soothed him, holding him close even though he had sweat all over his body. "It's okay. I promise, it's okay."

Peter felt himself shaking, even though it wasn't cold.

"We - we can carry on," he said, not knowing why he did.

**{END SMALL TRIGGER}**

_Why did he do that?_

"If - if you want to," he added when he noted their uncomfortable looks. "I'm fine. I - I promise."

Even though Steve looked unsure, even though this was his idea anyway.

"Isn't this the best option?" Peter asked, almost trying to guilt them into carrying on - he still didn't know why - _why. _"Finding out all the words before someone in public, or at school says it."

"That - that's true," Steve admitted, ignoring the wide eyes from Scott and Clint, the mouthing of _no _from Tony.

The complete emotionless from Bucky and Natasha.

"Let's carry on."

Peter left no room for an argument, standing up by himself, trying to seem stronger.

Tony and Steve looked at one another, the former lost.

"Come on."

Peter's words snapped them out of their daze and they followed him to the middle of the room again _(how had they reached the sides?)._

Natasha stepped forwards, following Peter's lead.

"I think I'll have a go," she said. No one dared to argue with her.

"Go on," Peter said quietly, although she seemed certain that whatever she was thinking of was correct.

**{ANOTHER TRIGGER}**

"Parker."

Peter jolted back, eyes wide and fearful, as if he weren't there.

"S-sorry," he muttered. "I'm sorry for being bad, I'm sorry for screaming, I'm so, so sorry."

Natasha looked vaguely guilty, but only for a moment. She knew this was going to happen, knew that the word wasn't going to help him.

The way he had reacted when Bruce had called him it confirmed it - Bruce had told her everything that had happened since Peter woke.

He just hadn't reacted this way the first time since he hadn't really been fully awake; he didn't take it in.

It appeared he did so now.

"Hush, Peter," Natasha whispered, stroking his back as he tried to shove her away, failing spectacularly. "You aren't there. You're here. With us."

"... No."

Peter seemed certain.

"With... them. _Him. _There."

"No, Peter," Bucky said gently. "All of us are here. Me, Natasha, Steve, Scott, Clint, Tony. You know, your dad?"

"Dad?" Peter murmured, opening his eyes slightly to look at them, slightly less hazy. "Where... dad?"

Tony moved closer, hesitantly placing his hands on Peter's shoulders, giving a small smile when Peter didn't flinch, though frowning when he didn't respond at all.

"I'm right here, Petey," he whispered into Peter's ears, hugging the boy. "I'm always going to be right here."

"N-no..." Peter mumbled, accidentally pushing Tony away. "Alone."

Saying that one word brought out more of a reaction than any of the others had, making everyone certain it was the last trigger word.

**{END TRIGGER}**

Tony gave an insignificant nod to Steve, picking up his son and cradling him to his chest.

And, God, Peter was _light._

Tony hated it when he could personally feel how the torture affected his son.

It was almost as if he himself had personally inflicted it upon him. When he could feel the scars upon his skin, the bones in his body.

It wasn't good when he could count every single rib Peter had.

It wasn't good that a grown man could carry his son, a teenager, one who should be incredibly heavy from the amount he eats, to his room with not much effort needed.

It wasn't good that Peter started panicking on the way to his room, as though he didn't know where Tony was going.

But, Tony reflected as Peter weakly pounded on his back, they would _make _it good.

He'd get his Peter back.

* * *

**Hello! I'm super happy, since I just saw two of my friends for the first time in about eight months XD**

**Also, happy birthday to Percy Jackson tomorrow! (Oh, and happy birthday to me, I guess.)**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope it wasn't too triggering! I tried to put the warnings in the right place, but I know some of you might not like this. Sorry, but Peter WAS kidnapped and WAS tortured, and it's extremely likely he'd have some sort of PTSD from it, and I'm not just going to make him miraculously recover, sorry.**

**The people who do that, quite frankly, don't make their books realistic, and that's not how life goes. So... yeah.**

**Bye! As always, review at the top of next chapter!**


	11. Ten

**Disclaimer: While I enjoyed doing this the first few times, this has kinda gotten boring now. Plus I have no smart comment to make. No, I do not own Marvel, and yes, that includes Spider-Man and the Avengers.**

**Review replies:**

_**Heir of ice - **_**I had an awesome day, thank you! Aw, I'm glad, I would say just check every Saturday though, because I won't update before or after the schedule unless I specifically say something in the chapter :) I used to do that before I got an account too, though XD Oof, I've dropped so many electronics in the bath it's unbelievable... I understand your pain XD I'm so sorry I made it so sad... Yeah, I figured that Peter was literally tortured for a couple weeks, it's EXTREMELY likely that he would get something bad from that, like PTSD or something (as I tried my best to show). I'm glad you think I kept Nat's 'badass' vibe, though, that was the thing I was kind of worried about, having Nat too maternal or too emotionless? Thank you for all the kind comments :) Yeah, I make millions of references to Loki throughout my stuff XD Thank you! More Irondad and Spiderson in this chapter! Yay!**

_**On your left - **_**Thank you! Yeah, I figured 'Peter's been freaking tortured, he's NOT going to be okay'. Yeah, Natasha is a freaking spy, she should notice these stuff... You've gotta love theories XD Thank you!**

_**Wingsie - **_**Thank you so much! That's incredibly nice of you :)**

**Note****: Thank you for all the birthday wishes, by the way! I really appreciate them :)**

* * *

**~ Ten ~**

Tony set Peter down onto his bed, mildly worried for the boy.

Okay, scrap that. Majorly worried.

Peter was still stuck in that haze, the world in which he was still in HYDRA.

He knew this was a bad idea. He shouldn't have let Steve convince him into it.

"I'm so sorry, kiddo," he murmured, lying on Peter's bed with him, wanting to be there when he got out of the haze.

"Dad?"

When he heard the youthful voice speak, he felt his heart leap.

Although it had barely been half an hour, Tony was still incredibly worried about the boy. He hadn't responded to anything Tony had said - even when he talked about watching Star Wars with him.

As Peter was obsessed with the films, that just assured Tony that something was wrong.

"Hey, kid," he smiled weakly at the younger boy, "how you doing?"

"... Dunno, Dad," he mumbled, sounding younger than he usually did.

That was a thing Peter did, Tony recalled. Whenever the kid was ill, or he just didn't feel quite right, he'd revert into a younger version of himself. He'd ask for hugs, or just happily sit there for hours with Tony while he himself did some work in the lab.

While Tony _did _like this version of Peter, he found it hard to look after him as well, since Peter didn't really know what he wanted.

"You wanna sit with me for a bit?" Tony asked, hoping the answer to that was yes. He'd get an excuse to not go to the meetings Pepper had assigned him, and he also got to spend time with his son. A win-win situation, for him!

Instead of answering, Peter curled up to him, latching onto his arm and closing his eyes.

"You alright there?" Tony joked, knowing that it couldn't be the most comfortable position in the world.

Peter's nose was pressed against his elbow.

"... Comfy."

Apparently that was a nice position.

Although, Tony _had _found Peter in weirder positions before. He'd once found him asleep on his desk, a bunch of formulas hidden by his arms as he slept.

He'd tried his best to look at him, but the best he got was that Peter had written a few notes on it.

_\- In lab at school, easier  
\- Have to - stronger?  
\- Gotta meet up with Ned  
\- MJ called me a loser again - is that a love-hate relationship, or am I looking too far into this?_

If Tony was honest, the first thing he thought of when he saw those notes was that, for one, he was doing experiments in the lab at his school rather than at home.

Seriously, what was up with kids and choosing to use the less adequate things in life?

The second was that Peter seemed to have purposefully concealed some of the information - although that couldn't be right, after all, Peter couldn't have chosen the position he fell asleep in.

The third was that Peter needed a reminder to see his best friend. Didn't he see him enough at school? And what was his name anyway, Ted?

The final thought he had was _Peter has a crush, I'm so telling everyone in the tower!_

He decided not to, as Peter was smart enough to think of a prank to get him back. And as they had enough prank wars around the tower, this one wasn't needed.

Besides, Peter had sworn that if he had to go to school one more time with pink glitter coating his hair, he'd find a way to add pink and purple sequins to the Iron Man suits - that you couldn't remove.

Needless to say, Tony had vowed to never tell anyone what he learnt that day.

"If you say so, Pete," Tony said, inwardly grinning at the fact that his son was back with him again.

He'd _missed this._

He'd missed the way Peter's eyes would brighten as soon as he saw him, even though he'd been living with him for four years, _surely seeing him should have gotten old by now?_

He'd missed the way Peter had fondly rolled his eyes at first when Tony berated Spider-Man, before he finally started retorting with his own comments about what he thought.

He'd missed the way Peter enjoyed cuddling with them, even though he was fourteen and _much _too old for that now.

He'd missed the way the Avengers all had fights over who would pick him up from school; so many fights had happened that Peter made them call him and he would decide for himself.

He'd missed the way that as soon as Peter walked into the lab, he'd start rambling about his day, mentioning things that had happened and flushing when he mentioned things he'd rather not mention in front of his dad.

_(But he'd checked that Liz Allen was safe, so that was fine - besides, Spider-Man put her dad in prison, the only good thing the vigilante had done.)_

He'd missed those rare times that Peter came to him, just merely wanting to spend time with him, whether that be watching old movies and criticising them or just sitting there, content in watching Tony scroll through his ideas for new things to add to the suit.

"Dad?"

It had been several minutes since they had last spoken, and Tony found himself scared by the sudden voice - though he'd never admit it.

"Yeah, kiddo?" he asked gently, keeping in mind that this Peter - the more delicate one who preferred to sit down and snuggle more than doing science - was fragile. "What's up?"

"Wanna... wanna sleep."

"Do you want me to leave?"

Of course Tony didn't want to leave, not really. But if Peter wanted him to, he'd do it in a heartbeat. He'd do anything for the kid.

Peter just didn't realise how wrapped around his finger he truly was.

"No."

The childish voice that replied with that tone - that tone that made Tony feel stupid, because why would Peter want him to leave? - almost made Tony laugh, before he realised that he should continue listening to Peter's request.

"Do you want me to stay here?"

"Yeah."

Normally Peter would add a 'please' on the end, or something else polite, which made Tony glad that he was in this phase right now.

Because despite this not being the normal Peter, this was still routine for Tony. He _knew _how to deal with this.

Peter wasn't being stupidly polite, like he'd been ordered to in that _place, _and while he wasn't the same old person he was before, he was close enough.

Besides, Tony loved him either way.

Peter put his face in Tony's neck and gradually fell asleep that way, pleased to be with his dad.

And Tony fell asleep too, arms around his son, relieved that he was here.

And both father and son fell asleep, not knowing the troubles that would await them the next morning.

* * *

"Guys, it's Bucky," Steve said the next morning, looking stressed (though that was fair, as Bucky was his best friend). "I don't know why, maybe it was all the talking about HYDRA, maybe it was something else, but I'm worried about him."

Understandably, Peter looked very worried; Bucky was the only person he could relate to. Suddenly his eyes widened and he began speaking rapidly.

"This is all my fault, isn't is? I'm the one who got captured so we had to talk more about it - what if something we said was one of his trigger words? I'm so sorry, Steve, this is all -"

Tony gave him a stern look, which evidently meant _'we'll talk about this later'. _Peter nodded hesitantly, immediately facing Steve as the man began talking again.

"I'd bring Bucky down, honestly I would, but he... He isn't feeling like himself."

"W-what do you mean?" Peter stuttered, afraid to hear the answer.

What if Bucky reverted back to the Winter Soldier, because of him?

"He's scared - he doesn't want to risk seeing other people and becoming the Winter Soldier again," Steve said, unsure whether he should but in the end deciding to go for it. "At the moment, Bucky's only letting me in his room. He knows I can deal with it."

"Because you've done it before, haven't you?"

Despite it being phrased as a question, Peter instead made it sound like a statement.

He remembered those times when Steve and Bucky wouldn't come down for breakfast, so somebody would go up into Steve's room, then Bucky's, and then come back down, merely saying that they weren't in the mood to eat.

He remembered those times when Tony had told him to stay in his room. apparently Bucky had a disease and he wanted to be sure that he didn't get it.

(Later that day, he wondered why Bucky didn't stay in his room, but he didn't question it. Nor did he question the occasional things being smashed.)

He remembered when he had been sitting in his room, with the door wide open, when he'd suddenly see Steve rushing past, trying to hold someone back.

Yet he hadn't thought any of those things were strange, or weird, or anything like that. Just how blind was he?

How much had Bucky suffered while Peter had been happily spending time as Spider-Man and with his dad?

* * *

**oof, I thought I wouldn't get this finished on time**

**Sorry, I had things to do for the last few days and have had BARELY any time to write, but here you go :)**

**Also, I'm just gonna say this now, but Peter won't be in any relationships with people. I'll put little hints here and there, but I'm not planning _any_ relationships. Okay?**

**Also, I'm opening a small Q+A right now, you can ask questions about the book or about me, whatever :) just no really personal stuff! Also, I'm not answering any questions about what will be happening later in this book, because SPOILERS. **

**Also, there's only gonna be six more chapters before this book ends :( six more weeks! Can you believe it?**

**(Oh, but there's gonna be a sequel, so that's fun XD)**

**Anyway, I'd better stop rambling before I reveal the sequel's name, plot, and other stuff, along with the fact that I'm planning a prequel - did I type that? oh well.**

**Bye! Have a great day!**


	12. Eleven

**Disclaimer: Nah, I don't own Marvel. i don't even know if that... - I don't own Spider-Man either. **

**Review replies:**

_**Heir of ice -**_** Aw, thank you! I know, it's so sad :( Yeah, you're welcome for the sequel XD Heh, thank you :) I'm looking forward to seeing your comments on this chapter XD**

_**On your left -**_** I know, they're adorable :) I'm glad you're happy about the sequel :) I know, right? Oh, I'm so so so irritated... I get that they're companies and they couldn't care less about anything other than money, but could they at least think about the fans? What are your thoughts?**

* * *

**~ Eleven ~**

"I wanna go back to school," Peter spoke up suddenly, disrupting the usual silence that coated the table during mealtimes.

Nobody had wanted to speak when they'd found out what happened to Bucky. And despite how much Tony didn't like the man, he knew how much Peter cared for him, so he stayed quiet as well.

Having Peter, the one who had originally opted for this silence, speak up all of a sudden shocked them.

"What?" Peter demanded after seeing their shocked reactions. He rolled his eyes. "I get that it's not common for a kid to _want _to go to school, but am I really a normal kid to you guys?"

"... Peter, we just aren't sure if you're ready yet," Steve said gently, unsure of how Peter would react.

He could be extremely violent, or he could stammer out apologies over and over again. Since Tony had downright refused to let them try it out after what happened last time, they didn't know which course of action Peter would choose.

(Though, knowing Peter, it would be the apologetic route.)

As Peter looked angry, however, it appeared that wasn't the case - though it could be because they didn't know his secret side. Tony quickly intervened anyway.

"It's not that we don't think you're ready," Tony contradicted Steve's statement entirely, casting the man a sharp glare before turning his gaze back to Peter. "We don't know how your classmates will react."

"Dad, I've been away from school for _way _too long, and while it may not be my favourite place in the world, if I want to get a good job I need to go there."

Peter's eyes looked too old for his body.

"Aunt Nat, you get it, right? I was gone for about a month, wasn't I? And add on these two weeks of recovering, I think it's time I go back."

"But - Peter," Tony tried again, aware that most of the Avengers were leaving the room other than Natasha and Steve, "your classmates might call you by your last name. Your trigger words are pretty common, so you could have an attack at school. There are precautions, Pete."

"And I can call you, Dad," Peter said, standing up. "I have a phone, if I can't call you myself then I'll get Ned to. I just want to be normal!"

"Look, Peter," Natasha put in, making him look at her in the eye. "We all know that you want to be a normal kid again. It takes a long time to recover from this stuff. We just want you to be ready."

"I get that. I really do," Peter said, pacing the floor. "But I'm never _going_ to be ready. You guys need to admit that. These - these trigger words are always going to affect me. These flashbacks - they're always going to hurt. And the fact that I was at HYDRA? That's true. That's fact.

"And with you guys trying to shield me all the time, I'm not going to get better instantly. I personally think that I _need _these experiences, I _need _Flash to call me that, I need people to say those words. That's the best way to get better."

"And I'm not saying you're wrong, Peter," Tony said, staring at the boy intently, daring him to interrupt, "I'm just saying there's a better way to go around this. Bit by bit, okay?"

"Steve, help me out here," Peter pleaded after a moment.

Steve paused in thought. He gave a small smile when he thought of an agreement that (hopefully) the two would agree on.

"How about we start Peter off slowly first? For instance, he goes to school for an hour a day, for about a week, then two hours, then three, and gradually moves up until Tony's comfortable. How's that sound?"

Peter gave a small grumble, but otherwise seemed pretty happy with this decision.

"Yup! Dad?"

Tony gave a deep sigh.

"If I must. But I feel that it's dangerous, you're coming right back here, understand?"

"Got it, Dad! Love you!"

And with that, Peter ran to his room, excited to get back to being a normal kid again.

* * *

_Spooder-Man  
Hey dude, guess what?_

Peter quickly texted Ned as soon as he got into his room, excited to be back into his usual routine again. Ned replied not a second later.

_DatGuyInDaChair  
__What up?_

Peter had a huge grin on his face as he typed; it had been so _long _since he had last interacted with _anyone _other than the Avengers. His hands were shaking with excitement as he typed, making him check for typos every so often.

_Spooder-Man  
I'm coming back to school tmrw!_

_DatGuyInDaChair  
And you're excited about that... why? Flash is still.. Flash, Pete_

Peter shook his head fondly at Ned's response, the other boy was so predictable at times.

When Peter had first told him about the Avengers' overprotective tendencies, he had complained, saying _how come you don't get to go to school? That's not fair, right?_

Of course, Peter had never told him the actual _reason _he was gone for so long. He figured the topic would just appear, he didn't want it to be some big thing.

_Spooder-Man  
It's not because of Flash, Ned. Actually, we just got back from this crazy awesome mission, it was amazing! I'll tell you about it later, but I got hurt and I finally get to come back, act like a normal kid again._

_DatGuyInDaChair  
I'd give anything for your powers, Peter. You have no clue how lucky you are. Anyway, I'll see you at school tmrw then, yeah?_

_Spooder-Man  
Yup, dude. Tmrw._

Peter put his phone on charge despite the fact that it was on ninety two person and gave his bed a disgruntled look.

It wasn't really directed at the bed though. It was kind of directed at Ned, but Peter was much too nice of a person to actually _think _that. So he took his anger out by looking at his bed instead.

Not that it did much.

"Ned seriously thinks my powers are a blessing?" Peter mumbled to himself, being mindful of FRIDAY. She (because he firmly believed androids and AI's were alive and deserved a pronoun other than 'it') could hear whatever went on in the tower, after all.

Peter personally thought his powers were a curse. If he hadn't had his powers, he wouldn't need to keep lying to his family. If he hasn't had his powers, his friends would be safe.

_But then again, if he hadn't had his powers, he'd have never helped rescue all of those people._

But if he hadn't had his powers, he might not have gotten kidnapped.

_But he got kidnapped because of - his powers. Because of Spider-Man._

All because of his powers.

Peter's dreams that night were full of robbers, murderers, and an evil chuckle in the background.

* * *

Peter had packed all of his stuff for the school the night before. He had also managed to write a small note on a piece of paper and slip it into Bucky's room while the man was sleeping - just to make sure he was okay.

_Hey, Buck, you okay? I know you won't want to see anyone right now, so I did this letter and I snuck it into your room. Can you answer, please? At least on the other side of this paper. You can even get Steve to put it in my room for you!  
Love you, see you soon!  
\- Peter_

It wasn't as long as Peter would have liked, but it was on one of the scrap pieces of paper he found in his room, and there was only so much he could write with his handwriting.

He put his bag over his shoulder and walked to the kitchen, grabbing an apple. It appeared he was going back his bad eating habits from before.

"You didn't have to get up this early, Pete!" Tony called from the hallway. The man was rubbing his eyes as he looked at the time (quarter past seven). "We could have always started you off for an hour later."

"I need to get back into routine, Dad," Peter explained, grinning at his dad as he took a bite out of his apple. "I'll be back soon - also, can I quickly ask you something?"

"Shoot," Tony said, obviously rather tired. He probably wouldn't hear anything Peter said, just nod and go along with it - which was exactly what Peter needed.

"If I'm feeling okay at school, can I try the full day?"

"Yup, you can, I'm going back to bed, see you soon," Tony murmured.

Peter grinned, knowing that FRIDAY was recording this scene and therefore he would be able to show Tony this for evidence later. He took another bite of his apple as he left, deciding to walk to school as he had gotten up earlier than he usually did.

Yet he could feel a foreboding feeling in his gut - something was going to go wrong.

But, as Peter was Peter, he ignored it in favour of enjoying the sight of New York; he hadn't been outside in a while, after all.

That would be one of the bad decisions Peter made that day.

* * *

**Mkay, I was actually playing an online game with my friend, but she left for her dinner, so I'm finishing this :)**

**I hope you enjoyed, hope it was long enough for your liking, whatever XD**

**As always, review replies are at the top of next chapter! I'll see you soon!**


	13. Twelve

**Disclaimer: Nah. Don't own Marvel OR Spider-Man. Because they aren't the same thing right now :(.**

**Review replies:**

_**Heir of ice -**_** Yeah, I assumed from the xoxo at the end that it was you, don't worry XD Awww, I know, Peter would definitely do that at the end :) Yeah, it's like a joint parenthood thing or something XD I know, it's a really sad reason but at least they're all helping out :) Yeah, I'm, like, twenty percent sure that Peter's going back to school in this chapter XD Awww, thank you, I love that you make a point of it every time, you're amazing :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**_On your left - _****While that last chapter was nice, this one certainly is't XDD Yeah, promising that Spidey will be in the MCU then doing that is stupid :( I know, it's going so fast!**

_**Guest -**_ **Aww, thank you :) Updates will be every Saturday, so be sure to check then!**

**Note: Yeah, as I said to the guest above, updates are EVERY SINGLE SATURDAY, so just be there for then - I have no clue what time - and it'll be there eventually. Oh, I'm British, so London time, I guess. Okay, that's all, you can read now :)**

**WARNING: I lied :) There's a panic attack, or anxiety attack, I don't know which, in this. I'll say when it is, but DEFINITELY skip it if you get triggered by stuff like that. I'll tell you when you can carry on. I'm sorry, by the way, but I'm trying to make it somewhat realistic.**

* * *

**~ Twelve ~**

"Hey, Ned!" Peter called as he saw his friend outside the school, looking at his phone. "Ned, quit looking at your phone, I'm _here!"_

Ned looked up, probably wondering who was calling him when he saw Peter. A grin lit up his face.

"Pete!" he yelled, making the people around him give him disgruntled looks, not unlike the ones Peter had gained. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"I'm - I'm good, yeah," Peter nodded, smiling happily at the boy in front of him. "I'm - yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything before I left - for, how long was it -"

"A month, two weeks, one day, three hours, fifty six minutes and five - six - seven - eight seconds. Nine," Ned filled in.

"You've seriously been keeping track of how long I've been gone?" Peter asked, stifling a giggle. "Dedication, dude, dedication."

"I've missed you, Pete," Ned said quietly. "It's been different without you. Strange. Flash hasn't let up any since you've been gone - actually, I'm pretty sure he's angry that you haven't been in so he can take his frustrations out on you."

"Sorry, buddy," Peter said sympathetically. "I honestly would've come in if I could, but there was an," he lowered his voice slightly, "Avengers mission. I needed to go on it."

"Woah, seriously?" Ned gasped. "That's awesome! Tell me _everything -"_

* * *

"You know," Ned brought up at lunch, "that Green Goblin dude, the one that Spidey put in prison?"

Normally Ned would've said Peter had put him in prison, but Michelle was sitting at the table and despite the fact that she probably already had worked out Peter's identity, they could never be too careful.

Peter gulped at Ned's question; for some reason thinking about the Green Goblin gave him chills.

"Yeah?" Peter replied, tilting his head slightly. "Why?"

"You know he got out, maybe one and a half months ago, right?" Ned continued. Peter nodded, allowing the boy to go on without anymore interruptions. "I feel bad for Harry. You... remember him?"

"Remember Harry?" Peter laughed. "Of course I remember him, Ned, we were best friends in first grade."

"Isn't it horrible for him though?" Ned whispered, keeping in mind the tables nearest to them. You never knew when people were listening. "His dad got turned into this massive monster who's terrorising people."

"Yeah, I guess," Peter said slowly. "Although I personally believe that old Gobbie was always evil. Just because you got turned into something doesn't mean you change the way you are, right? I mean, look at me!"

Apparently he said the last part a bit too loudly, because Flash walked past and snorted.

"I think you're still a massive nerd, Parker," Flash taunted. "You been ditching school? Bit of a rebel, aren't you, Parker? Well, we'll have to sort that out, won't we?"

Him and his friends cracked their knuckles.

Peter felt his eyes grow wide at that word.

_Parker._

He slowly backed away, sliding on the bench to the other side of the table, where Michelle was.

"Hey, loser, you okay?" she asked in her usual tone - as though she didn't care.

Peter quickly turned his head to her, panicking.

"W-who are you?" he stuttered. "Please, please don't hurt me! I promise I'll be good! I swear!"

* * *

At the Avengers Tower, Tony Stark had a bad feeling.

"We shouldn't have let him go," he mumbled. "He said he'd go for an hour yesterday though, right?"

Natasha, because she was a super spy and all, heard what he said and replied.

"Maybe he asked you again this morning?" she suggested, rolling her eyes.

"No," Tony said, shaking his head. "I wasn't awake this morning. I didn't see him. Did I?"

"I definitely heard _someone _who sounded an awful lot like you and Peter this morning," Natasha said, staring at the man incredulously. "Do you actually not remember?"

"I was half asleep!" Tony protested. "FRIDAY, pull up the footage from this morning."

_"Right away, Mr Stark," _FRIDAY said, following his instructions almost immediately.

She played the footage.

_"I'm gonna beat you Clint, I swear on my life!" Sam shouted as he angrily glared at the TV while he moved his controller around._

_"Oh really?" Clint retorted. "Sorry, it seems like you've just crashed into a wall. And - oh look - what a surprise - I'm in first place? Who would've thought of that? Certainly not me, that's for sure."_

_Sam grumbled while Tony looked in, grinning._

_"You just can't beat him, Sam," he called out. "Well, unless you're me. Let me show you how it's done."_

_Tony sat down next to Clint and stole the controller off Sam. Clint pressed play._

_"Three, two, one... Go!"_

_Tony crashed into a wall almost straight away._

_"See!" Clint crowed happily, pausing the game so that he wouldn't get too far behind. "I'm the absolute _boss _at Mario Kart!"_

"No, no, FRIDAY," Tony quickly called after realising what the footage was. He was too late, Natasha was already sniggering. "That was at half eleven, I meant the one where Peter left for school. What was it, quarter past seven?"

_"Playing footage now," _FRIDAY responded, although you could almost hear a giggle in her voice (although she was an AI).

_"You didn't have to get up this early, Pete!" Tony called from the hallway. The man was rubbing his eyes as he looked at the time. "We could have always started you off for an hour later."_

_"I need to to get back into routine, Dad," Peter explained, grinning at his dad as he took a bite out of his apple. "I'll be back soon - also, can I quickly ask you something?"_

_"Shoot," Tony said, obviously rather tired. He snagged a banana and began eating it, nodding when Peter spoke as though he were listening._

_"If I'm feeling okay at school, can I try the full day?"_

_"Yup, you can, I'm going back to bed, see you soon," Tony murmured._

_"End footage," _FRIDAY said, making the screen disappear.

"So, Tony." Natasha was smirking as she spoke. "Looks like I was right, wasn't I?"

"Oh, shut up," he grumbled. "I think I should probably pick Peter up now -"

"Leave him alone, Tony," Natasha said. "He obviously wants to go - for whatever reason - so give him a chance. He promised he'd call you if he needed you."

"... Fine," Tony finally responded after hesitating for a long moment.

At that exact moment, his phone started ringing.

* * *

"Yo, Parker, what's wrong with you?" Flash asked, almost acting concerned. Ned glared at him, standing up to him for the first time in his whole life.

He'd do anything for Peter.

"Go away, Flash." He spoke angrily, his tone fierce. "It's your fault he's like this, if you hadn't said anything he wouldn't be like this right now!"

"My fault?" Flash growled. "If he wasn't such a baby, none of this would be happening! Crying over his own name, really?"

"Maybe a lot more has happened than you realise, Flash!" Ned struck back, scowling at the boy in front of him.

A lot more had happened, Ned suddenly thought. Peter hadn't told him the whole story, had he?

Flash and his goons finally walked away, albeit with some huffing and puffing, so Ned finally got to go over to Michelle and Peter to see what was going on.

***PANIC ATTACK BEGINS***

"I'm so, so, so sorry," Peter repeated. "It's all my fault, I'm sorry! I won't do it again, I promise!"

"You've done nothing, Parker," Michelle said, concern in her eyes.

Peter harshly flinched away.

"I think it's his name." Ned realised suddenly. "Flash said it was his name. I didn't believe him. It must be, it's the only thing you and Flash have in common. Michelle, only call him Peter, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed, looking at Peter in the eyes. "Peter, I need you to listen to me, okay? Listen."

Peter was shaking heavily in Michelle's arms, but he nodded and tried to focus on her voice.

"You're fine. You're not... wherever you think you are right now, okay? I'm here, Ned's here, we're at school," Michelle said. "Can you name me five things you can see for me?"

"I - I -" Peter stuttered, looking around wildly.

The whole cafeteria was silent, watching what was happening.

"Come on, Peter, five things you can see," Michelle encouraged.

"I-it's dark," he murmured. "It's dark and I can't see. I can't see anything. Who are you?"

"Peter, focus on my voice," Michelle demanded calmly. "You need to focus on my voice. On my words, come on. It's me, Michelle. You can do this. Five things you can see."

"I - I see you," Peter mumbled. "There's you, Michelle, and -" he swivelled his head around, finding Ned almost immediately, who was searching through Peter's bag, "- there's Ned, and my bag. The - the cafeteria, and - and the lights."

"Good job, Peter," Michelle said, smiling at him. "Now tell me four things you can feel."

Ned had finally found Peter's phone. All he needed to do now was work out the password.

"Come on, Peter," Michelle repeated when the boy fell into silence. "Four things you can feel."

He quickly latched onto her arm. "I can - I can feel you. And - and -" he moved his arms desperately, trying to find another thing, "- and the table. The - the food trays. And - and - the chair."

"Well done, Peter, now three things you can hear." Michelle grabbed onto his hand, moving his hand off her arm. He held it tight, but he seemed to have calmed down slightly.

Ned guessed Peter's birthday. Wrong.

"Th-things I can hear. I - I can hear people talking."

***END PANIC ATTACK***

People whispering to their friends.

"I can hear the - the cars outside. And - and your breathing."

"Awesome, Peter! Just a few more things, okay? Two things you can smell."

"The - the food the cooks are making," Peter said, wrinkling his nose slightly. "And the stink from the gym. They should move it further from the cafeteria."

"One last things, you did great, Peter," Michelle grinned, squeezing his hand a little before letting go. "One thing you can taste."

"A piece of chocolate that Ned gave me a couple of minutes ago," Peter said, nodding.

Peter had calmed down a bit, but he still looked a bit shaky.

Ned put Tony's birthday. It was right.

He called someone.

* * *

"Hello?" Tony asked as soon as he picked up the phone. "Peter? Why are you calling me? What's wrong?"

_"Hello, Mr Stark," _a young voice came through the phone (but it was still deeper than Peter's). _"Um, I'm a friend of Peter's. Ned? I've come round a few times. He's here, he just had a -"_

"He had a what, Ted?" Tony cut him off hurriedly. "What happened?"

_"Woah, man, chill. I was just going to say that he just had a panic attack. Michelle and I calmed him down, but I think it'd be best if you came and picked him up. And - can you tell me what happened? He didn't tell me or Michelle. Thanks. We'll take him to the entrance where you can pick him up."_

Before Tony had a chance to say thanks - although it wasn't likely he was going to - the kid hung up.

Tony glared at Natasha. "I told you!" he declared as he left the room. "I _told _you!"

* * *

"When's Dad gonna be here?" Peter mumbled childishly.

Ned knew how to deal with these moods, whenever Peter was hurt, or incredibly exhausted. He felt that Michelle would know what to do too, even though she'd never experienced it before.

"He'll be here soon, Pete, I promise," Ned said. "Do you want another bite of my chocolate?"

"Yeah," Peter said, happily taking the piece of chocolate Ned gave him before he rested his head on Michelle's shoulder. "'M tired."

"You can sleep if you want," Michelle said. She seemed to be back in her usual persona.

Ned couldn't tell if that was a bad thing or not.

Peter nodded tiredly and closed his eyes, drifting off into a sleep.

Without any nightmares.

* * *

**Hello! I hope you enjoyed this despite the panic attack - but, as I think I explained earlier, I want to make this somewhat realistic. Not completely realistic, we read and write fanfiction for a reason, but I still want to do this. Peter would NOT be fine.**

**On an added note, with the notes above, I normally wouldn't add them, I usually do it at the bottom here, but if it's up there then it's likely important. About updates, or something.**

**Speaking of updated, there won't be one next Saturday. Why? My parents are renewing their vows :) And, you know, being their child and all, I've kinda gotta be there. I also want to make sure my mum doesn't stress out too much, and considering she's starting to ge everything in the place on Thursday, I'll be helping her since Thursday.**

**So I'll try my hardest to get this out on Friday, if not, then Sunday or Monday. Yes, a longer wait, normally I'd be able to get it out on Friday, wedding preparations as well, but I started school and, um... Yeah. It's hard. I don't like it.**

**Apart from Art and Music, they're great.**

**Anywayyy, that's what might be happening, and that's all!**

**Ask any questions if you didn't understand something, by the way, I'm always open to questions :)**

**(I also let out a hint at the beginning at what might be happening in the future chapters, so... ;))**

**As always, review replies at the top of next chapter, and I'll see you soon! Bye!**


	14. Thirteen

**Disclaimer: No, no, I don't own Marvel, so that does mean I don't any any characters, sad times. **

**Review replies:**

_**On your left -**_** Heh, thank you, I love Mario Kart XD I'm Clint in that scene XDD Yeah, I figured even Natasha couldn't keep a straight face during that. Thank you for that, by the way, I tried my best :) I'm so glad you are!**

_**Heir of ice -**_** Oh my god I know, they're such nerds and I love them 3 Oh my god, I have a younger sister and she's the most annoying being ever... Awww, thanks, I'm pleased you feel that way, I'm so glad my writing has changed XD It's okay, I hope you didn't struggle with your exams TOO much! Thank you XD**

_**Ori -**_** I'm so sorry, and don't worry, you're not being annoying, I really needed the reminder... I'm glad you're enjoying the story :)**

**Note: As I said above, I'm so unbelievably sorry, this has been a seriously hectic week and I'm currently ignoring homework to write this XD The wedding made me grieve for lost family members that they brought up, so Monday and Tuesday were out of the way, on Sunday I was still drained, Wednesday and Thursday had me being emotionally unstable, and yesterday I just didn't have the time. I'm sorry, but I've got it out now.**

**Added note: I'd literally written half the chapter and my laptop decided to close the browser without saving and I'm so annoyeddddd**

* * *

**~ Thirteen ~**

Harry Osborn was Peter's first friend. Harry showed Peter the ropes, he showed him how to stand up to Flash (not that he did often) and he showed him how to make new friends.

Because, if Peter had to be honest, he was a rather antisocial kid. In all honesty.

And then, one day, Harry was sick, and Peter had no one to hang out with. It was a shock to see Ned Leeds, the kid who was _also _rather antisocial, come up to him and offer to let him sit with him at lunch that day.

Peter nodded with a massive grin, and proceeded to follow the boy like a lost puppy for the rest of the day.

When Harry had come back the week after (it turned out he had chicken pox), it was to see his best friend hanging out with another person, who he appeared to be really close with.

To say the least, Harry was mad. _He _was Peter's best friend, and nobody else could take that spot!

But Peter's smile (that took up his entire face) when he saw him back got rid of all those thoughts, and he went and sat down next to him, ignoring the kid.

Of course, he couldn't for long. Peter was soon introducing the two (obviously, Ned already knew Harry, but Ned wasn't as well-known). Peter was hoping that they would all get along, and that's what it seemed like at first.

In fact, Peter, Ned and Harry were inseparable after that day, never apart from each other for long at school, and always begging to go around one another's houses. And then everything changed.

Harry's dad, Norman Osborn, thought that Peter and Ned were bad influences He told Harry that he was going to be sent to boarding school, whether he liked it or not.

And so Harry told Peter and Ned the next day. The three could both safely say that in their short lives, that was the worst day of their lives.

(Except for Peter it was worse now. Because he had faced worse things, Uncle Ben, Aunt May...)

(Ned had seen his best friend injured before, and he could say that was worse than leaving his old best friend.)

(Harry hadn't had many hardships in his life. For him, it was still the worst day of his life.)

* * *

_When Harry had gotten to school the next day, sobbing, in tears, crying, Peter and Ned were immediately concerned and rushed over to him._

_"Hey, Harry, you okay?" Peter asked, gently, frowning slightly when Harry didn't give an answer. "Harry? Haz? Can you answer me, please?"_

_"Harry!" Ned called, shaking the boy slightly._

_Perhaps it wasn't the best way to go around it, but they were both still little kids, after all._

_"I'm sorry," Harry choked out, lifting his face up so his two best friends could see the tear tracks down his face. "I'm so, so sorry. I have to go, my dad says I have to leave!"_

_"W-what?" Peter said shakily._

_This couldn't be happening, could it? He'd just barely lost Ben, and now Harry was going too?_

_Harry had been his best friend ever since he was five and had to find his own way home because Aunt May was working and Uncle Ben had asked him if he could, if it was okay with him._

_Harry had seen him walking home by himself, in the pouring rain (Ben and My hadn't noticed it was raining, it wasn't _their _fault) and offered to give him a lift._

_At first, Peter refused, not wanting to impose on this person and his father. When the boy's father asked him himself if he would get in the car, he found it simply too rude to refuse again._

_And Peter had gotten into the car, and that was when he realised that it was _Norman Osborn. _the famous scientist that Peter absolutely _loved _reading about, and then he saw the kid next to him and saw it was _Harry Osborn.

_Peter had honestly felt like fainting at that moment, but he didn't._

_When he'd made a genuine smile appear on Norman's face, simply by chatting to him about science and other things with him, Harry had stared at him in awe._

_The next day at school, Peter had expected to be alone again. He was surprised when Harry had come up to him again, saying he was 'far nicer than most of the losers in this place' and that he 'needed an awesome best friend' in his life._

_And now his supposed awesome best friend was leaving._

_"You can't leave, Harry," Ned whispered. "You're my - _our _\- best friend. What will we do without you?"_

_"You'll have to deal with it," Harry said, sniffing slightly, speaking in his usual blunt tone. "I thought my dad really liked you, you know? But apparently you and Pete are 'bad influences'."_

_Ned snorted a bit, ruining the mood slightly._

_"Bad influence, Peter?" Ned asked. "Since when has Peter been a bad influence? He's the type of person who would stop everything he's doing to help an old lady cross the road! Is your dad okay, Harry?"_

_And then Harry laughed, which caused Peter to laugh, and Ned was already laughing, so they sat and giggled for a few minutes until they calmed down and thought about the situation again._

_"When d'you think you'll be coming back, Harry?" Peter asked quietly._

_Despite the fact that Ned was also his best friend, Harry Osborn was the first person he'd ever met who was his age, who liked him for who he was. He didn't know how he'd manage without him._

_He didn't think he could._

_"I dunno," Harry said, shrugging. The tears had dried on his face. "Not soon. Maybe - maybe a few years?"_

_"A few _years?" _Peter exploded. "I swear, I'll go and talk to Norman and tell him that this idea is _stupid."

_"Maybe that's why he thinks you're a bad influence," Ned joked feebly. Harry gave a small laugh and Peter joined him._

_After all, they may as well have fun in the time they had together, right?_

* * *

Ned had spoken to Peter, the latter suddenly recalled. He had said something about Harry.

Peter felt he should go and find out what that was about. Except, when he opened his eyes for the first time in a while, everything was dark.

Where was he?

It took him a moment to realise that he was in his room, the lights off and the curtains pulled. Of course.

Why would he be anywhere else?

With a croaky voice, Peter spoke to FRIDAY.

"Hey, FRI," he said, wincing at the pain in his throat from disuse. "H-how long have I been in here for? What time is it?"

"Oh, it's horrible," Clint said from his doorway. He had opened it and Peter hadn't been aware. His spidey senses must be failing him. "You were asleep for days, Pete! Tony was going _mad _with worry, and you missed _five _surprise tests. _Five!"_

"What - no - seriously?" Peter exclaimed. "How come I was asleep for so long?"

"I don't know," Clint said, a serious face going along with his words, "but I think it's something to worry about. Also, do you want Chinese or just random junk food, like McDonalds or something? You're the deciding vote."

"That was... okay, I don't believe you," Peter said, shaking his head. "FRIDAY, how long have I been asleep for? What's the time?"

"You have been asleep for approximately two and a half hours, Peter," FRIDAY said. "That is for when you were asleep at school as well. You left at quarter to two, and it is now quarter past three. Does that help you, Peter?"

"Yeah, thanks, FRIDAY," Peter said, casting Clint a glare.

"Hey, it was the perfect moment!" Clint defended himself.

"Oh, by the way," Peter added as he walked out, "Chinese, please, because I know you wanted junk food and I like annoying you. And you deserve it."

And with those final words, Peter left the room, cackling madly.

* * *

After about fifteen minutes of Peter trying his best to persuade his dad to let him go and see Ned, Tony finally gave in and let Peter be on his way.

After his mild panic attack at school, Peter hadn't honestly thought Tony would even let him go out the _house, _let alone let him go and walk to Ned's by himself.

Tony really was a wonder (as Pepper often said, generally with a joking tone accompanied with a roll of her eyes).

"Thanks, Dad!" he called as he ran into the elevator, telling FRIDAY to go to the bottom floor. He ran out the building a few seconds later and, since he was extremely fast from the spider bite, arrived at Ned's no less than ten minutes later.

He rang the doorbell, regaining his composure, smiling as Ned's mom opened the door.

"Hey, Mrs Leeds," Peter greeted happily, entering Ned's home as the woman gestured him to. "How are you doing?"

Ned's mom had long since given up on getting Peter to call her by her real name, and instead settled with chatting to the boy until Ned came down. Sometimes, that was half an hour.

"I'm doing well, Peter," Mrs Leeds smiled fondly at the boy. "How are you? How's the foster family?"

Oh, right. Since everyone knew that Aunt May was... gone, they knew that Peter had to be living with some new people.

Peter had, at first, told everyone that he was living with a foster family. He said he moved homes every few months until he found one that he really liked, or found one where they wanted to keep him.

So far, nobody had been told whether Peter had found one yet. Naturally, he had, but he couldn't really tell people that the person who had adopted him was _Tony Stark._

So Pepper helped him to make fake records if anyone looked, and he continued to tell people that he was still searching for a good foster home.

"They're great," Peter replied honestly. "I have a bunch of uncles and aunts, they like talking to me and we play a lot of pranks on each other. I really like it there, Mrs Leeds. I think this is a pretty good place."

"If you like it, Peter," Mrs Leeds said, "then it is the place for you, okay? Remember, our door is always open for you."

"Thanks, Mrs Leeds," Peter replied, grinning as he saw Ned coming down the stairs. "I think I'll go and see Ned now... if that's okay with you, of course."

"That's why you're here, isn't it?" she laughed. "Go off, boys. I'll have dinner ready when you need it, Ned! Peter, are you staying tonight?"

"No, sorry," Peter said, "I'm having dinner with them tonight. Maybe another day, though. If that's okay?"

"You're always welcome here, Peter," Mrs Leeds smiled at him before Peter and Ned both went up into Ned's room, shutting the door behind them.

"So, first, can you tell me where you _really _were, Peter?" Ned asked, getting straight to the point.

Peter sighed, before he nodded.

"Only a little. If I seem even a _tiny _bit stressed, stop me, okay? I don't want a replay of what happened at home..."

"You have my word, Pete," Ned vowed. Peter gave him a quick grin before starting his story.

"Well..."

* * *

After Peter had finished explaining everything (excluding most of the torture and what was done to him) that had happened since they'd seen each other last, he immediately questioned Ned.

"You said something about Harry when we last spoke. Tell me? Please?"

Peter was using the puppy dog eyes. Not that he needed to, but it added to the effect. He knew Ned would tell him anyway.

"Yeah, it's about Harry. He's coming back, dude. He's _finally _coming back."

* * *

**Ahhhhh I'm so sorry this is out so late, I, as said above, had a massively hectic week, and then half of this got deleted, then my friend wanted to play the playstation with me (and he's my best friend, how could I say no?) and then I had art homework, added with food... Well, considering it's five past midnight - so technically Sunday, it's still working. So ha.**

**Hope you enjoyed this :) byeeee**


	15. Fourteen

**Disclaimer: Spidey's back in the MCU so I can finally include him in the 'I don't own Marvel' thing again. Yay!**

**Review replies:**

**_Heir of ice -_**** I know, I can't have fluff without a bit of angst, you know ;) Oh my god yeah, I call my brother Haz all the time, so it just fit. Ahhh yeah Clint is just awesome, and I'm so pleased you feel that way! He's just such a silly but amazing character, he can relieve all the stress from the room with just a sentence and I feel that I kinda need that XD Awww, thank you, I try my best :) Yeah, it's literally so... ugh, I love art, but still, it took a couple hours. This week I just have to print something, so I'm lucky. I'll happily answer, maybe it'll inspire people to write no matter what their age is? Anyways, I'm 13, I know, shocking, woahhh (I don't find it that shocking but I think it's because it's me XD). I answered it because I feel like people need to know that whatever their age is, they can write and they'll improve. I started writing when I was 10, and I've definitely improved from then. Thank you!**

**_On your left -_**** Yup! I love Harry so much, I can't NOT include him XD Yeah, Clint is just such an awesome character to write, I love him. Thank you, and yeah, I know! Only two more chapters left after this! (I'm so sad... but there's a sequel so it's all good XD)**

* * *

**~ Fourteen ~**

Immediately after Ned had said that, Peter had questioned him, attacking him with words.

He needed to know _when _Harry was coming - _why _he was coming. He needed to know _how on earth _Ned knew. He needed to know _what _to do, _where _Harry was going to be.

He needed to know _everything._

After Ned had been fully grilled -

_"Pete, all that I know is that people at school have been saying he's going to come back. Someone eavesdropped on Norman Osborn and found out that Harry's coming back. I don't remember much more than that."_

\- and Peter had found out all the information he could -

_"I think he's coming back to the school the day after he gets back, we should be able to see him there. And Pete? Just wear your normal clothes. He's not going to expect you to be in some fancy getup for him, is he?"_

\- he spent some more time with Ned at his house, talking about LEGOs, Star Wars, and other things.

But his mind kept drifting back to Harry.

How could Norman have called him back? He could have sworn he had put him in a high security prison a while ago because of the Green Goblin... situation.

In fact, he specifically remembered telling the police to not let him out until he was back to his usual self and stable again.

Because, in all honesty, Peter knew that when Norman became the Green Goblin, he didn't change. He was always like that, he just didn't show it in public.

Harry has told him how it went. He'd go home, if Peter was with him he'd get a hug and a small kiss on the top of his head.

If Peter _wasn't_ with him, however... It was worse.

Harry got home, ignored by his father. He'd sit down for dinner, and Norman wouldn't show up. When Harry asked him questions, he'd reply with, "Not now, son, I'm busy."

Two-faced, Harry had called him.

Quite literally now, Peter supposed.

He wondered... Did Harry know about his father turning into the Green Goblin? Had he kept up with the New York news? The Daily Bugle wasn't really reliable (Peter just didn't like the hate against his alter ego), but surely he would've known what was going on.

Right?

Maybe he didn't keep in touch with the entire_ city._

After all, Harry had promised to keep in touch with him and Ned, and since he or Ned didn't own a phone (Peter was too poor and Ned's mother claimed that he was too young), he said he'd write them letters.

He wrote two. For them each.

Then one day, after two weeks (one letter a week) he'd stopped replying.

Peter and Ned has started getting worried. Their words were even more scrambled than usual, and they felt that maybe Harry didn't write because they could hardly understand them.

In the end, they settled with short letters, as they figured that maybe Harry hadn't been able to read the past ones and _that's_ why he couldn't answer them.

_Dear Harry,_

_How are you? Please answer. We haven't spoken to you forever. You promised to stay in contact!_

_Hopefully you'll answer soon._

_Bye! Peter._

_P. S. This is Ned. Peter didn't tell me he was writing (that was also really short, which is bad for you, but eh, as long as you answer this time). See you soon, maybe! Ned._

Peter remembered Harry's last letter to him. If he searched deep enough in his desk, he was sure he'd be able to find both letters.

_Dear Peter,_

_I'm good, thank you for asking! Boarding school is absolute trash, I wish I could be back with you and Ned. Even though Flash is annoying._

_He doesn't still bully you, by the way, does he? I know he stopped for a bit after I publicly claimed to be friends with you (I learn that word today. 'Publicly'), but I don't know if he's gone back to his old ways._

_This school? Way better than Midtown. Except... almost worse. The teachers are good, the lessons are pretty good, but the kids aren't. And I know I'm a kid too, and I can't really say that, but it's not the same without you or Ned._

_I know it'll be a while until I come back. My dad said so - he doesn't trust me being around you or Ned. In the summer, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe he'll rent a house near where I am. You know we have the money for it._

_Sorry, I know you feel bad when I mention the whole 'rich' thing. To be honest, you're the one who keeps on refusing the money when I've been offering, so it's all you._

_How's Aunt May and Uncle Ben, by the way? (Remember, when I first came to your house they were so happy that you finally brought a friend round that they insisted I called them that?)_

_Oh, and Ned, if you're reading this over Peter's shoulder, like always, then hi! I hope you're okay, maybe we'll be able to see each other soon!_

_Well, that's all for now. I'll write as soon as I have time. Bye!_

_From Harry_

Peter was shook out of his daydream by Ned, who was continuously shouting in his ear.

"-ter! Peter!_ Look at me in the eye and tell me you're not dead!"_

"Ned - _Ned!_ I'm breathing. I was always breathing, I don't get -?" Peter trailed off, hearing Ned's mom's voice. "Wait a second, listen to what she's saying."

_"Ned, honey! You've got a letter!"_

Peter and Ned immediately looked at each other, hope evident in their eyes. Could it be -?

But no, he'd stopped writing to them ages ago, it couldn't be.

"Coming, mom!" Ned called, jumping up from his bed and going down the stairs, Peter following suit. "Who does it say it's from?"

"I haven't opened it, I thought you and Peter could open it together," she said with a mysterious grin. Ned shrugged and opened it, reading it aloud.

Peter wouldn't be able to see over his shoulder. He was too short.

"Dear Peter and Ned," he read out, raising his eyebrow at Peter's name. "Well, I hope Peter's there, anyway. It'd be awkward if he wasn't. Er - open the door, I guess. Bye!"

Ned gave Peter a strange look, and he responded the same way, shrugging.

"Shall we open the door?" he asked. Ned nodded, before doing so.

He stood in front of the door, mouth open in shock, eyes wide. Peter couldn't see past Ned, as he was _way_ taller than he was, and gave him a small poke.

"Hey, tell me who it is!" he exclaimed. "Is it - is it -!"

Ned moved out the way slowly, making Peter anticipate seeing whoever was at the door even more.

Harry Osborn greeted him.

"Harry!" he shrieked, running over and jumping on top of him, giving him a massive hug. "We haven't seen you in_ forever!_ So, how have you been? We've missed you so much! How was boarding school? How's Norman? Is everything okay? I thought we would have to wait for school! Wait, how is -?"

"Woah, woah, woah, Pete," Harry said, giving him a grin as he pushed his hair away from his eyes. "Barely been here a minute and you're already giving me questions. Let me get in the door first, yeah?"

Peter nodded excitedly, grabbing Ned and Harry's arms and pulling them up to Ned's room.

Mrs Leeds laughed as she watched the sight.

* * *

"So you're telling me that your dad didn't want you to come home at all? Why?" Peter asked, confused at Harry's explanation.

"I _told_ you, Peter," Harry said, rolling his eyes fondly. "It's because he thinks that you and Ned are bad influences, remember? Honestly, you're the exact same as you were when you were younger."

"No I'm not!" Peter protested. He then gave a wicked grin. "I'm even _more_ annoying than I was before!"

"Oh no!" Harry exclaimed dramatically, Ned silently laughing on his bed. "Who can save me from this cruel fate? Anyone?"

Ned stifled his laughter.

"I shall, do not fear!" he shouted.

The three were able to head Mrs Leeds muffled, _"Quiet!"_

They burst into more laughter.

They hadn't seen each other in _forever._

But it was totally worth it for this reunion.

Peter gave a small gasp as he took a quick glance at his phone when he had the chance.

_52 missed calls: Irondad  
__13 messages: Irondad_

_I found out something important, come home quick. [5:43]  
__Peter? Where are you? [6:21]  
__I've waited ages for you, answer your phone. [6:22]  
__Are you at Ned's? [7:38]  
__Why aren't you home yet? [7:45]  
__Peter, it's getting late. [9:42]  
__Come home now, Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark, or you'll be in massive trouble. [9:42]  
__This is my last warning. [9:50]  
__I'll tell Pepper. [9:50]  
__Pepper has been told. [9:58]  
__Hell is going to rain down upon you. [10:29]  
__You asked for it. [10:47]  
__COME HOME! [11:14]_

_6 missed calls: SaltPepper  
__3 messages: SaltPepper_

_Tony told me you aren't home. [10:00]  
__No chocolate until I see fit. [10:12]  
__Home, now. [11:22[_

Peter gulped audibly, Ned and Harry managing to hear (somehow. Peter was sure that they both had enhanced hearing too).

"What's wrong, Pete?" Ned asked, concerned. Harry echoed him a few seconds later.

"Oh, it's nothing, just my foster parents getting annoyed at me. I wasn't home by curfew, they'll be pretty mad," Peter said, grabbing his jacket and his phone, standing up.

"Foster parents?" Harry questioned, also standing up. At Ned's curious look, he elaborated. "I haven't been here in forever. There's bound to be some stuff I don't know. And my dad's going to be worried about me too. It's almost half eleven."

Peter groaned when he checked his phone to see that Harry was right.

"I'm gonna be killed," he said, hanging his head down in defeat. "Wish me luck!"

He ran out of the house, giving a hurried goodbye to Mrs Leeds before he ran home, not giving Ned or Harry a chance to speak.

* * *

"Curfew, young man, is at ten. We've given you liberty, and you decide to throw it in our faces? Tony had something important to tell you, but now there's no time!" Pepper exploded, giving Peter a stern look.

"I'm sorry -" Peter tried, but Pepper cut him off.

"Sorry isn't good enough! You know, Tony and I thought you'd been kidnapped again! _Again!_ The first time was bad enough, can you imagine a second time? Not only would it be bad for you, but me and Tony too!"

Suddenly, Pepper's expression softened.

"I'm only doing this because I care about you, okay? I don't want you getting hurt again. It can't happen again. I don't know what I'd do without you," she whispered, giving him a hug.

Peter conceded to it, before letting go and looking up at her in the eye.

"There's a reason I was out so late, though," he said, giving a small nervous smile.

Tony, from behind Pepper, gave him a thumbs up and mouthed to him. _Keep going, she's calming down!_

He gave him a conspicuous nod.

"Basically, I was at Ned's," he began, when Pepper cut him off.

"Why didn't you tell us? You can stay at your friend's house if you want to - but why so long?"

"I'm getting to that part, I swear," he said, giving another small smile. "It wasn't_ just_ Ned there -"

"Were you at a party? Peter! You should've told us!" Tony protested, giving him a mock glare.

_"Dad!"_ Peter complained. "Let me finish!"

"Okay, okay," Tony said in defeat, putting his hands up in surrender. Peter rolled his eyes.

"Thank you," he said sarcastically. "And anyway, I was there for so long because... because... Harry finally came back!"

The last few words he said in a rush, but Pepper and Tony caught it. They gave each other a look, before Tony told Peter to sit down. Pepper walked out of the room, already knowing what he was going to say.

"It's great, isn't it?" Peter hurried on. "Me and Ned haven't seen him in forever, and now we finally are!"

"Peter, it's great, really, but there's something else I need to tell you. You need to get ready for this, okay? I'd tell you to sit down, but you already are..."

Peter gave Tony a raised eyebrow.

"What's going on? Is it important?"

Tony gave a deep breath before he spoke.

"Are you ready?"

Peter tilted his head. "I thought I was, but now I'm not too sure... tell me anyway."

"The person who captured you at HYDRA?" Tony began, readying himself. "The person who tortured you? We found out who it is."

"And who is it?" Peter asked, almost dreading the answer.

Tony steeled himself.

"The Green Goblin. Harry Osborn's father."

* * *

**Hello :) My laptop broke, I can't use speech marks on it apparently, and as you can see I use speech marks. A lot.**

**I really don't like my laptop right now.**

**But eh, I actually just copy and pasted this on my phone, so I guess its okay.**

**Hope you enjoyed! (Only two more chapters left, ahhhh)**

**Bye! Love you guys!**


	16. Fifteen

**Disclaimer, nah, I don't own Spidey :( or the Avengers...**

**Review replies:**

_**On your left -**_** Heh, thanks, I guess XD I didn't think it was much of a shock myself, but then again, I've known myself my whole life. Yeah, that text message was my favourite one XD Ah thank you! Endings for chapters are things that I struggle with a lot. Oh my god yeah, hopefully nothing goes wrong this time... ONE MORE CHAPTER AFTER THIS!**

_**Heir of ice -**_** I love cliffhangers :) Here is your new chapter below! With another cliffhanger! Whoops... At least I've warned you? Harry doesn't know, nope, hahaha. Hahahaha. Yeah, I may or may not ABSOLUTELY LOVE plot twists. Oh well! Thank you! I aim to be an author when I'm older, I just need to think of an original idea... Thank you 3 **

_**MazikeenWolf -**_** I only have one thing to respond to that. :D**

_**poohbear123 -**_** Thank you so much! Here is the long awaited chapter below ;)**

* * *

**~ Fifteen ~**

Peter's next few weeks weren't full of words, but full of actions.

And, in other words, he didn't talk that much, preferring to write notes or speaking in a quiet tone.

He still did his usual routine; writing a note to Bucky every morning _(he just wanted him to come out of his room),_ grabbing an apple for his breakfast, being late to school.

The only time he _really_ talked, honestly and properly, was when he was Spider-Man. And even then he didn't say as many witty puns as before.

(Could puns even be described as witty?)

Ned and Harry were worried, he could tell. They nudged him when they had a chance; sometimes Ned tried his hardest to punch him and see if that had any reaction at all.

It didn't.

* * *

Harry was concerned. Peter hadn't spoken for the last few weeks, and he didn't know what to do. He didn't know if this was just a _thing_ that Peter did sometimes, if he just had to be apart from the world before he could go back to it.

He was confused, to be honest.

By Ned's reaction, this_ wasn't_ a normal thing that Peter did, but he still didn't know what to do.

He hadn't been there for six years, what was he supposed to do? Act like he had when they were eight? Give Peter a stuffed toy and act like everything was better?

Because truthfully, Harry knew something was up. He knew that it had_ something_ to do with him. What, he had no clue. But_ something._

Peter gave him these looks, looks like he was scared for him - scared _of_ him, sometimes. But why?

Maybe it wasn't Harry who Peter was seeing, who Peter was afraid of. After all, Peter had been avoiding coming to his house recently, hadn't he?

Whenever Ned wasn't free, he'd just say he had homework (which was a lame excuse, but a liable one). Whenever Peter said it, which was rare nowadays, he gave a small smile.

Harry didn't know why.

He just wanted to know what was up with his friend. What more could he ask?

* * *

The same thoughts were going through Peter's head those few weeks. Over and over and over again, they wouldn't _stop,_ they wouldn't_ change._

It's almost as if his mind wanted him to figure something out.

Still the thoughts reigned through his mind. His best friend's dad had hurt him? _Tortured_ him? Aware of every action he was doing?

He had to constantly remind himself that it wasn't_ really_ Harry's dad, that Norman was the Goblin now, but it didn't do anything. After all, if you're goof and you turn into a monster, you don't immediately turn evil.

What if he'd been planning this all along? And Harry was at Oscorp with him, what if he -

A sudden realisation had Peter sitting up in his bed, giving a small gasp.

Was that Norman's plan? Was he going to hurt Harry when Peter least expected it? As a horrible way of _revenge?_

He stood up, grabbing his backpack that had his suit in and walked calmly out of his room. He didn't want to be caught, after all.

Of course, with his good old Parker luck, he managed to.

"Hey, Pete, we were thinking -"

Peter turned swiftly towards the speaker, sighing softly when he saw it was only Clint.

"Don't scare me like that, dude," he said, putting his hand over his heart dramatically, "I almost_ died."_

"I'm glad you're back to your old self, Pete," Clint said, giving Peter a small smile, shaking his head when he remembered what he was going to say. "So, it's about -"

* * *

Harry texted Ned (they'd all finally exchanged phone numbers since they thought letters were a bit too old fashioned now) and asked him to come straight to his house.

Ned did so without a second thought, just reminding Harry that he wouldn't be there quickly since he had to walk and Oscorp was decently far from Ned's house.

_DatGuyInDaChair_  
_Sorry I'm going to be late Har, yours is farther than I thought._

_YouHaveCoolNamesAndICan'tThi_  
_I ran out of space_  
_It was going to be you have cool names and I can't think of one_  
_But it didn't work_  
_Also, don't worry Ned, as long as you're here it's fine :)_  
_Also help with name?_  
_Please?_

After their quick conversation (Ned refusing to help Harry with his plight), Ned arrived ten minutes later.

"So what's up, dude?" he asked, collapsing into Harry's bed as soon as they got into his room.

"I want to do something to help Peter get back to his usual self."

Harry was blunt. Straight to the point. It was almost his catchphrase at this point.

He remembered at his boarding school where the other kids didn't like that personality trait of his; often bullying him and ignoring him. He only had one true friend.

It was too bad she had to leave.

He shook his head, trying to remove the memories that had infiltrated his brain.

"I know, you're going to say something like _what are you on about, Harry?"_ he quickly rushed on, "but I swear I have a good reason."

"Can you tell me that reason?" Ned asked, raising his eyebrows. Harry mumbled his answer.

"Because I want Peter to go back to normal again. I don't know _why,_ but I feel like it's somehow_ my_ fault. He gives me these weird expressions - sometimes he looks scared of me, sometimes scared for me, I don't get it!"

Ned gave a small chuckle.

"I don't know if you couldn't tell when we were younger, but Peter has a _serious_ people saving thing. Or animal saving thing. Or an _anything_ saving thing. Whether it's a human or a plant, he'll save it, trust me. He's worried for you."

"But why?" Harry couldn't help but question Ned on this.

Why would Peter be scared of - _for,_ it was definitely for - him? Why would he be worried about him? Was it his dad?

"It's the Green Goblin, Harry," Ned said gently, looking around, almost as to make sure nobody was listening. "Do you know who he is?"

"Well, no," Harry admitted. "I've been trying my best to keep up to date with this stuff, but my dad didn't send over the newspapers for a while. I just thought it said something bad about him. Why, who is it?"

Ned gave Harry a sympathetic look.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Obviously I want to know, Ned! You've actually managed to get me_ interested_, and that's just rare. Besides, this might help with Peter, you know what I mean?"

"I just... I don't know if you're ready, Harry," Ned said softly, looking away from him.

"I _am_ ready, I swear! I just want to know how to - to fix Peter, you know? Make him the same way he was when we spoke for the first time in ages last week."

"Okay. Fine. Harry," Ned said, looking at him in the eye. "Your dad is the Green Goblin."

* * *

"- Bucky."

Peter stared at Clint, wide-eyed. Had his letters finally worked after all?

"What is it? Is he coming out of his room now? It probably stinks, he hasn't had a shower in_ days_ \- but he has a bathroom connected, doesn't he? Is he the Winter Soldier again? Hurry up and tell me, Clint!" Peter said hysterically, rambling.

_"Oh my god,_ was that apple I gave him yesterday rotten? It didn't_ look_ rotten, it looked like the best out of all the others! Is he sick? Is it my fault? Is -"

"Okay, shut up, Peter," Clint said, rolling his eyes, exasperated. "Is this what's going to happen whenever I give you news about Bucky now? Because if so, I seriously don't want to be the messenger all the time."

"No, no, I swear I won't, can you tell me?"

_"Okay,"_ Clint said, giving a sigh before a massive grin came upon his face. "Bucky's out of his room! He's just over there." Clint nodded his head to the left.

"What - _seriously?"_ Peter exclaimed, smiling happily. "It was my letters, wasn't it?"

"It definitely helped," a voice said, one that Peter knew and hadn't heard for several days - perhaps a couple of weeks?

Peter turned toward the direction of the voice, giving a delighted yelp and running towards it, giving the owner of it a big hug.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "My letters helped, didn't they? Or did they make you feel worse? I didn't really know what I was thinking when I wrote them. How was that apple? Was it -"

"Peter, you've gotta calm down," Bucky said, grinning. "The letters helped a lot - I'm usually in there for a lot longer than a few weeks."

Oh, it _had_ been a few weeks.

"I know there were some days I forgot," Peter said, giving Bucky a guilty smile, "but you won't _believe_ what happened! My best friend, the one who I always used to talk about but you never managed to meet, came back!"

Peter suddenly remembered what he was going out to do as he spoke of Harry.

But he couldn't leave Bucky, not when he just came out of his room, could he?

No. There was no way he could do that. He would just have to search for the Green Goblin later.

How _much_ later that would be, he didn't know. But he'd wait.

He'd do it today.

* * *

"Are - are you - you can't be serious," Harry breathed, eyes glistening. "My dad - he can't be the Green Goblin. I saw him earlier, and I'm pretty sure that he wasn't a massive green monster."

He crossed his arms, wanting to believe Ned was lying _(but he knew deep inside he wasn't)._

"Man, I'm sorry," Ned said, looking away.

Harry wanted Ned to tell him that he was lying, that the Green Goblin wasn't _actually_ his dad, that it was actually their English teacher, or someone - _anyone_ \- else.

"I know this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear," Ned continued.

Harry gave him an expression of disbelief. Yeah, he _definitely_ wanted to hear that his dad was an evil villain. _Totally._

"But it's the truth," he finished, giving Harry a sad look. "And I'm sorry about that, I swear, but I couldn't really do anything about it and I _still_ can't."

Harry gave a small sigh, shaking his head.

He couldn't be annoyed at Ned for this. It wasn't _Ned's_ fault that his dad was like that. It wasn't _Ned's_ fault that his dad could be potentially be using Harry as bait. It wasn't _Ned's_ fault that Harry had a murderer living in his house.

"... Don't worry," Harry finally said, moving his hair out of his eyes. "I know it isn't your fault that my dad's evil. Is that too harsh? I guess not."

Ned wasn't paying attention. Instead, his eyes were locked onto the television screen behind Harry's head. Confused, he turned around, looking at the screen. He gave a small gasp.

* * *

"You wanna go and see your friend, don't you?" Bucky asked, giving Peter a small wink.

That was one of the main reasons Peter_ (honestly and truly)_ loved Bucky so much. He always knew what he was thinking - even if it was something as stupid as _'I really want to eat an apple'._

_(He'd always hand him one with a knowing look in his eye. Peter was pretty certain that he was telepathic.)_

Peter gave Bucky a guilty look. He didn't want to leave Bucky already, not now that he had just gotten him back after so long.

_(And despite the fact that Bucky was offering to let him leave, Peter felt that maybe, just maybe, a small inch of Bucky missed him too.)_

"But - I only just got you back!" he protested, frowning. "I want to spend some time with you, Bucky. I haven't seen you in _forever."_

"I know, Pete," Bucky said gently, "but you haven't seen Harry for a while either. Maybe when you come back me, you and Steve can play a board game together? Since everyone else finds them too boring."

Clint gave a sheepish grin.

"Okay," Peter conceded, knowing that Bucky wasn't going to let up. Sometimes he forgot that Bucky was from World War Two as well. He just seemed so _accustomed to_ this time, Peter forgot. Steve, however... "Okay, but you'd better keep your promise on that board game, okay?"

Bucky gave Peter a smile. "Promise."

To be honest, Peter felt slightly bad that he was using Harry as an excuse to go out as Spider-Man. But it was fine.

As long as he got to play the board game later, he'd be happy.

He gave Bucky one last hug before he ran to his room_ (supposedly to change into some better clothes rather than the pyjamas he was wearing),_ quickly getting into his suit.

Besides, this was better, right? At least this way he was protecting Harry.

He went to seek out the Green Goblin.

Peter wasn't big on revenge, but if the Goblin hurt Harry - he was going to _pay._

* * *

On the screen, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin _(his dad, Harry reminded himself, giving the screen a small scowl)_ were fighting.

And the worst part was that Spidey was _losing._

* * *

**Just so you know, I was gonna make the cliffhanger wayyyyy worse than that, so you're lucky.**

**(My keyboard still isn't working ughhhh)**

**Sorry this is out late, though. My life is this whole tangled mess at the moment, so my kinda brother - don't question it - has been coming over and making sure im okay. I'm happy for that, but you know... Just kinda been upset. Whatever.**

**The next chapter is the longest one and it'll be out next week! (And there's gonna be a little thingy authors note at the bottom so pleaseeeeee read it?)**

**Bye! Have a great morning/afternoon/evening/night!**


	17. Sixteen

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Marvel :( Last chapter!**

**Review replies:**

_**Heir of ice -**_** I know, Harry doesn't deserve any of it :( Awww, I know, I figured that Peter would wanna make Bucky happier, so doing those little letters was perfect :) Ahh thank you so much! And, yeah, I love my cliffhangers XD Ha, yeah, well, still waiting for my rainbow, unfortunately. Of course XD Thank you so much 3**

_**On your left -**_** Yeah, I figured that Harry would need to eventually find out his dad is this massive villain, you know? Well, this IS the last chapter of the book, so I guess you'll have to wait and see! (Extra long as well :)) And for the second question, no, if \I'm being honest. My whole family has been brought down and I'm trying my best to help them all without breaking... I'll just see how that goes, huh? And thank you for asking 33**

_**Wisdom and Sea -**_** I'm so sorry this was out so late, but I'm pleased you're enjoying this!**

_**Note: Please read the note at the bottom! It's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!**_

* * *

**~ Sixteen ~**

"Hey, Gobbie!" Peter called out. "How're you doing lately? You mind telling me your evil plan so that I don't have to bother finding it out?"

The Goblin didn't reply, instead throwing one of his usual bombs at him.

"... Not up for talking, then?" Peter tried, wanting to keep the Goblin distracted as best he could. "Come on, Gobbie, please! I thought we had a best friend club or something! We meet up, like, every week."

Okay, so maybe Peter wasn't distracting the Goblin very well. Although for he_ did_ give him an exasperated look, so that counted for something, right?

Peter smirked, even though the Goblin couldn't see it through his mask.

"Come _on,"_ he groaned. "You're making me tense! I wanna know! Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Quiet," the Goblin growled, that being the first word he'd said in the entire battle.

In all honesty, Peter didn't think he'd be able to last long without talking.

At that moment, Peter developed a serious look (though, again, the Goblin, nor anyone else, wouldn't be able to see it). There was only one reason he was out here, and that was for his best friend.

"Look, Gobbie, I know we're fighting and all -" Peter stopped, trying to think of the best words to say. "But - I want to know something."

Peter hung from a web for a moment, tilting his head slightly.

"And you've gotta promise that you'll answer. I_ need_ to know this, Gobbie."

The Goblin paused, a sure sign that he was listening.

"It's just - well - _why_ did you ask Harry to come back after all these years?" Peter spluttered. "You sent him away because we're apparently 'bad influences' and now he's suddenly back? For what, bait?"

The Goblin's eyebrows raised, before he gave a slow clap.

"Well done," he said, pulling Peter into an awful flashback of when he'd said it before.

_"Well done," the voice whispered in his hair, dark, evil, and strangely familiar._

_It was the Goblin._

"You know -" Peter started softly, before hesitating. He carried on. "You know, that hurt me a lot. And when I'm hurt - you hurt Harry too. I thought you_ cared_ about him."

The Goblin snorted. A horrible, loud, belch-sounding sort of snort, but a snort nonetheless.

"Care about him?" he said, as if Peter had said the most ludicrous thing on the earth. "I don't _care_ about him. I couldn't care less about him! Yet you care for him yourself, and I intend for him to be my hostage."

Peter's entire demeanour seemed to change with those words.

"You intend to sell him out?" he said quietly, not his usual witty self. "Why would you do that? He's your only son!"

"He was never useful to me, Parker," the Goblin hissed, glaring at him. "Perhaps if he was more useful, he wouldn't be in the situation he is in now!"

"It's not Harry's fault thought!" Peter protested. "He can't _choose_ to immediately understand things! You have_ no_ idea how long Harry studied for when we were eight - _eight_ \- just to impress you. And you shrugged him off - like ninety eight percent was nothing.

"Highest score in the class, you know that? And you were too busy trying to sort out your illegal spider experiments that you couldn't care less.

"Yeah, I _know_ what you were doing. Even as a kid, I snooped around. I _had_ to know what was going on. I_ had_ to know why you just shrugged Harry off like that.

"And, apparently, all the snooping stabbed me in the back later, because when I went on the field trip to Oscorp and I saw those spiders, I immediately thought of that time. And they bit me. And changed my life.

"And now all I do is keep secrets. The only person I can be my real self to is _you_, Gobbie. Ned wouldn't understand. How stupid is that? The only person I can be myself to is a_ villain."_

The Goblin snorted again.

"That sounds unfortunate, doesn't it?" he said, showing off his nasty, yellowed teeth as he grinned. "And while you are off _monologuing,_ I managed to sort out this bomb. And isn't it lovely?"

Peter looked at the bomb, gasping as he saw it.

He recognised it.

The Goblin had used it once before, and nobody had even seen it, since Peter had managed to throw it into the ocean.

He'd felt bad for_ days_ after that.

There had been no news footage of that fight, none for this fight either.

(At least, that's what he thought.)

Peter had forbidden it when he was fighting super-villains. He didn't want anybody to get hurt - he'd told the people of the Daily Bugle himself.

(He'd never said they couldn't zoom in though.)

That meant that _nobody_ had seen the bomb that the Goblin held in his hands. Nobody but Peter and the Goblin himself.

And, to be frank, Peter had wished that he'd never had to see that again.

It had haunted his dreams, turning even the nicest ones into nightmares.

He could remember the explosion, how the water had turned green, smoke flowing throughout it.

How the Goblin had told him it was poisoned. Luckily, Peter had managed to contain that area of the ocean.

How exactly he'd done that, he couldn't exactly remember. He'd tried so hard for so long to ignore that time, those memories, that he couldn't remember the good he had done.

"No... Gobbie, _no,"_ Peter breathed, eyes directed onto the bomb, widened in horror. The eyes of the mask copied - Peter thought he was half asleep when he added it in, but it worked nonetheless. "Not again!"

"I _will_ detonate this, Parker," the Goblin threatened.

Peter had no doubt that he would.

"I won't if you do something_ I_ want."

"And what's that?" Peter felt an unpleasant feeling in his throat and he swallowed, wincing.

"Stand there. Take my hits. Stay until I'm done with you. And then let me go."

"... Only for this time," Peter conceded, looking down sadly. How long would this go on for? "But I swear, next time I see you, you're going_ back_ to jail."

"If you call the police before I've gotten away, I'll set this loose in Oscorp," the Goblin warned.

"But - all those innocent people!" Peter cried._ "Harry!"_

"So you'd better stay there, Parker. Or you're going to do something you'll really regret."

And an unwilling Peter stood there as the Goblin punched him, again and again, uncaring if his skin was broken in areas, uncaring that he'd already hurt him enough.

He just _didn't care._

He got a notification from Karen. He opened it.

_DatGuyInDaChair  
__Pete? [6:43]  
__Hey, Pete, what's going on? [6:43]  
__You're on the news. [6:45]  
__Peter, why are you just standing there? [7:01]  
__Why are you just taking the hits? [7:06]  
__PETER [7:17]  
__PETER, ANSWER [7:17]  
__I KNOW YOU CAN USE YOUR SUIT TO ANSWER [7:17]  
__SO ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE [7:18]_

Peter almost sobbed. Ned cared. He cared so _much,_ and Peter was forcing him to watch him getting beaten.

He had to answer. Didn't he?

_DatGuyInDaChair  
__I need to tell someone [7:18]  
__Please Pete [7:18]  
__Tell your dad [7:19]  
__Or Pepper [7:19]  
__Or Natasha [7:19]  
__Anyone who can help you [7:19]  
__Please [7:20]_

He couldn't leave Ned hanging like that, having to watch the news to see what was going on.

"Karen," he coughed, making sure his mask was soundproof so the Goblin couldn't hear what he was saying.

No need to get Ned targeted as well, after all.

"Send Ned a message. Listen to what I say -"

He got struck with a coughing fit, but managed to spit out the words. Karen, being the AI that knew all, understood what he was saying and sent Ned the messages.

_Spooder-Man  
__I'm getting Karen to write this. She's more reliable than Siri so this should make sense. I'm sorry that you have to see this. The Goblin - he threatened Harry. I can't hurt him, Ned. I can't call the police. I can't do anything. I'm sorry. [7:25]_

After the message was written he turned off the soundproof, needing to speak to the Goblin.

(As much as he didn't want to.)

"Gobbie..." he said wearily, as though he didn't want to be there. And truthfully, he didn't. "We need to stop. You can go. I'll - I'll capture you another day. Just - please."

The great Spider-Man, reduced to begging? Peter wished he'd never seen the day.

"I haven't got what I want, Parker," the Goblin said, narrowing his eyes. "I want to hear your _screams."_

"You haven't heard them enough?" Peter shot out, regretting it as the Goblin punched him hard enough to crack his jaw.

_Karen._

No, no, no. She had to be fine, he needed to assure Ned he was okay, he needed to -

He needed to calm down. It would be fine, everything would be _fine_. Karen was fine - she would be okay. Peter could fix her up, it'd be fine.

(If Peter got out of here alive.)

"No, Gobbie, stop!" Peter screamed, finally giving in.

_After all this time, he just gave in? He was worthless, hopeless._

"I don't want to fight anymore! I just want to - I just want to - I -"

Peter felt his eyes dropping, forcing them open. He made his mask soundproof again, needing to send another message to Ned.

_DatGuyInDaChair  
__I've told Harry. [7:40]  
__I'm so, so sorry. I know you wouldn't want me to, but I needed to rant to someone and you - [7:40]  
__You weren't responding for fifteen minutes, Peter. [7:40]_

Harry knew? Harry knew that Peter was Spider-Man?

_Spooder-Man  
__I'm sorry. I'm going to end this. [7:41]  
__I don't mind. [7:41]  
__You're my best friend, you and Harry both. Just remember that. [7:42]_

Ignoring that - it had taken him fifteen minutes to have that conversation the Goblin? Peter was more sluggish that he'd thought.

_YouHaveCoolNamesAndICan'tThi  
__Hey, Peter. [7:43]  
__Are you okay? [7:44]  
__Ned told me. [7:44]  
__I can't believe my dad's fighting my best friend.  
__But if I had to choose... I'd choose you, okay? I'd always choose you. [7:48]  
__You cared when my dad didn't. My dad doesn't. [7:48]  
__I know, I'm bait. The news crew for close enough for that, before they retreated again. [7:48]  
__I'm rooting for you. [7:48]_

_YouHaveCoolNamesAndICan'tThi has changed their name to SpideySupporter. [7:50]_

_SpideySupporter  
__Always. [7:50]_

Peter gave a weak grin.

_Spooder-Man  
__Thank you. You're the best person I could ever ask for. And I swear, I'll find your dad and I'll make sure he goes to prison unharmed. Or relatively unharmed. Or not too beaten up. [7:56]_

_SpideySupporter is typing. [7:56]_

Peter turned his notifications off.

He turned towards Norman. Because that's who he was. He wasn't the Goblin, no, he was_ Norman Osborn._

He always had been. Peter just hadn't seen it.

Peter turned off the soundproof again, for good. He wouldn't be using it again in this fight.

He stood up weakly.

"I know you don't like me," he breathed out. "I know why, too. I'm not going to tell you how I know. I just do. But let me tell you, I _will_ get you in prison one day. Not because I have to or for the 'good of humanity' or whatever, but because I promised my best buddy."

Peter gave him a glare, the lenses of the mask following suit.

"And I swear, that's a promise I'm going to keep."

And with those last few words, Norman walked away.

Calmly.

Slowly.

He knew Peter would do nothing about it. Not if he wanted to risk someone's life.

"Until next time," Norman whispered darkly.

"Until next time, Normie. When I finally get you in prison," Peter vowed.

And that was where he collapsed.

He lay there for a while, contemplating what to do next.

He could go to Ned's? But Ned didn't know any medical stuff and besides, Peter didn't want his best friend to see him any worse than he already had.

Maybe Harry's? But Norman could be there, and he could view Peter going there as a chance to get him to prison. He could detonate the bomb.

Michelle's? But Michelle didn't know that he was Spider-Man. He didn't know how she'd react. Not just yet.

That only left one choice, really.

He sighed, hand shaking, bringing his phone out of his pocket, and dialled Tony Stark.

Desperately hoping he wouldn't answer.

* * *

In all honesty, Tony was having a great day before he got that phone call.

He'd went and had breakfast with Pepper.

_("Oh, stop it, Tony!" she exclaimed, slapping his hand playfully. "I said I'd pay, and I'm going to follow through with that! Stop being such a - such a_ billionaire.")

He sat down in the kitchen and exchanged a few words with Bucky.

_("Hello." Tony spoke clearly, coughing slightly to attempt to stop the awkwardness. The air was icy between them._

_"Hi," Bucky said, giving him an easy grin. "How is Peter? He said he was going to see Harry, do you know when he's back? He promised me a board game. I fully intend to make him keep that promise."_

_"Oh, I don't know," Tony said, shrugging as he grabbed an apple. He was trying to eat healthier. That didn't really work when he turned on the coffee machine as well, which immediately started yelling insults at him._

_"IF YOU KEEP GOING LIKE THIS, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO WORK IN THE LAB WITHOUT DROPPING EVERYTHING!" it yelled._

_He was used to it by now. Peter had named the coffee machine Dylan. He also insisted the Dylan wasn't an 'it' but a 'he'._

_Peter happened to be the only person Dylan liked.)_

He'd agreed to go to lunch with Steve, Bruce, Natasha and Clint.

_("Okay, for the new prank was, I'm thinking that we just have a few people on a team," Clint started, placing his hands on the table as he spoke. "It gets a bit insane otherwise. But the others still have a job!"_

_"Maybe..." Tony stroked his goatee thoughtfully, "we can have them still on a team, but nobody can attack them? They can plan out the pranks, but nobody can prank them. If that makes sense."_

_"It totally doesn't," Clint said. "I agree!")_

To be honest, it was mainly Clint and Tony discussing what to do in their future prank wars. Tony and Bruce did a_ little_ science talk, but not too much that they'd scare the others away.

After that, Tony had attempted to call Peter and see if he wanted to do anything tomorrow.

There was no answer.

Tony had just shrugged it off, assuming that because Peter was at his friend's house he'd turned his phone off. No biggie.

And then he'd gotten the phone call.

The time had been ten minutes past two when he'd called Peter. It was now quarter past eight.

Why was he only _now_ receiving a call?

Maybe Peter just needed a lift, he reasoned. Nothing would be wrong.

He picked up his phone and answered it.

* * *

"D-dad?" Peter stumbled in relief, falling to his knees as his dad picked up the call.

_"Peter? Pete, where are you? Are you alright?"_ Tony's worried voice came through the phone, and Peter coughed, hacking blood and wincing as he saw it on the ground.

"Dad, I - I need h-help," he whispered, not wanting to admit it; if he did, Spider-Man will be over, he won't be able to do the thing he loves the most.

Not ever again.

_"Help with what?"_

"It's - I - dad!"

_"Whats wrong, Pete? What's the matter?"_ Tony sounded urgent now. _"Are you hurt?"_

Peter closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He snapped them open again.

He was in danger of falling unconscious, and he didn't want to tempt the fates by closing his eyes.

"Y-yeah," he unwillingly admitted. "It hurts, dad. Can you - can you pick me up, please?"

Tony sounded concerned over the phone, but Peter honestly couldn't be bothered to console him right now.

_"Where are you, Peter? I'm on my way,"_ Tony said. Peter could hear his footsteps, which proved his words to be true, yet Peter couldn't make his mouth move.

"Peter? I need you to answer me."

"Y-you know that place on the news?" he whispered. "The one where Spidey and the Goblin were fighting?"

_Norman,_ he corrected in his mind.

(It didn't even matter right now.)

_"Oh, Pete, why were you there?"_ Tony exclaimed, starting his car.

Peter could feel his eyes droop again. He opened them fully, trying to stay awake just to tell his dad one more thing.

"I - I am Spider-Man," he muttered, before falling into a black abyss.

* * *

When Peter woke up, he found that he couldn't move. Or rather, it hurt too much_ to_ move.

"H-hello?" he called out, wincing when he heard how croaky his voice was.

When nobody answered, he looked around at his surroundings, taking everything in slowly.

(And considering he could barely move his head without getting a splitting pain in it, he considered that an achievement.)

There was a TV. He didn't want to look at what the news was - it was likely something to do with him and Norman. Not to sound big-headed, or anything...

It took him a few seconds to turn his head to see a chair next to him. And the figure sitting in it?

Well, to be honest, Peter almost cried from joy.

His dad was here. That _had_ to mean that he didn't hate him, right? He wasn't going to throw him out now, was he?

Peter came to a sickening realisation.

What if Tony was only staying there so that he could tell him that he had to move out?

_(Like the orphanage had, but he just didn't want to tell Bruce that.)_

Maybe that _was_ the reason.

If that was the case, then shouldn't he leave? Before there was any trouble?

But the fact that he could barely move might contradict that idea...

Okay, maybe he should see Tony's reaction to him first. Wouldn't that be best? Before he made any rash decisions?

"D-Dad?" Peter said, hating the stutter that he couldn't seem to get rid of. Maybe he'd ask Bruce about that later. "Wake up!.. Please."

Tony jolted up out of the chair, and Peter was honestly scared he'd given him a heart attack.

(And then he remembered the arc reactor, but he pushed the thought out of his mind.)

"Peter!" he exclaimed, giving him a bear hug. "I was so worried! Don't you_ dare_ do that again!"

Peter snorted _(__since when did Tony act like a dad?)_ before he gave a small wince of pain.

"U-Um, can you get off me? P-please?" Peter asked, gasping as he felt his ribs twinge.

"Oh right, sorry Pete," Tony said, giving him an apologetic look.

That meant he wasn't going to be sent away, right?

"Are - are you mad?" Peter asked, fearful of the answer.

"Yeah. Terribly mad." The sarcasm in Tony's voice couldn't be any more obvious. The deadpan look on his face may have helped a little, too.

Peter gave a small giggle, before his face scrunched up in pain.

"Er - don't make me laugh," he said, giving a small smile. "It kinda hurts a little."

"Sorry, Pete," Tony said.

(Two apologies from Tony in a day? Must be a new record. It went from zero to two.)

"I - I guess you wanna talk, huh?" Peter said after a moment of hesitation. "I - I get it if you wanna - throw me out, or something. I know that you never really liked Spidey, so -"

"Never, Peter," Tony interrupted him. "I won't ever throw you out - unless you, I don't know, decide you wanna be mean old Green's accomplice?"

Peter grinned, holding in his laughter for the moment.

"So... I'm Spider-Man," he said, testing the waters.

"I know." Tony thought for a moment, before he added something new to the conversation. "Why didn't you call the Avengers when that fight was getting hard? We would've come, I promise!"

"I couldn't risk it," Peter whispered, looking down, ashamed. "I didn't want you guys to kick me out - you guys are my family."

Tony smiled.

(And it was a real, genuine one, too. Peter always felt special when he received that smile.)

"You're too important to me as well," he went on, not wanting Tony to cut him off. "I didn't want the Go - I didn't want _Norman_ to hurt you guys. I didn't want one of your deaths to be on my conscience."

_(Not like Ben's already is.)_

That part was left unsaid.

"We're superheroes, Peter," Tony said. "There's always gonna be a casualty involved. Whether it's major or minor."

"We?"

Tony brought him into another hug, albeit more carefully this time.

"We," he agreed.

* * *

**Woah. WOAHHHHH, ITS FINALLY DONE! **

**So how's that for an ending? I'm usually trash at them, so I tried my best XD**

**(On an added note, I hate my laptop. So much. You know where the button is? Yeah, to get that I need to press shift then press 2, and vice versa to get speech marks. Ahhhhh)**

**Anyway, in a couple of days - nah, scratch that, on Saturday there's gonna be an added authors note to this which is basically thanking everyone who reviewed at one point with little notes for each of them, along with review replies for this chapter AND the next book's reveal ;) Stay tuned for that!**

**Sorry this took so long, by the way. I needed (and still do need to) get my life in order. My whole family's a mess and I'm just trying my best.**

**Anyway, hope you guys are all good, and I'll (DEFINITELY) see you next Saturday! Bye!  
**

**(Sorry again for the late update!)**


	18. THANK YOU ALL

**Woah. This story has come to an end... But no need to fear, because there's gonna be a sequel out the week after next on Saturday :)**

**Updates for that is going to be slightly different than this, by the way. For Hunted, I had every single chapter planned out. For the sequel, it's going to be different, because I haven't planned it all out, so updates will be every OTHER Saturday. I hope you don't mind :(**

**It'll be up the following Saturday, though!**

**It's going to be called... drumroll please...**

**Drowning In Oxygen (2)**

**Yay! Angst!**

**Before I do anything else, here's a few review replies to the last chapter and then you may read below ;):**

**_On your left - _Ahhh, I'm actually so happy you had that reaction because it means you liked it! XD And yeah, I'm doing okay - well, as okay as I can be, at the moment. I'm going to try my best with updates, though! Thank you for being part of this story, as well!**

**_Heir of ice - _Well never fear, there is a sequel on the wat! Warning: it'll be darker than this XD oh, and there's a character death in there somewhere, so maybe mentally prepare yourself for that XD. Oof, crying in public is so awkward... Yeah, but Peter thinking like that is practically canon, you know, so I had to put it in! Aww I know, I love Harry so much... Thank you so much! I've absolutely loved your comments, and I think you've been here from the beginning (or near it at least) so I deeply appreciate that as well :)**

**Dovewing15 - it'll take you a while to get to this, considering you were on chapter 2 when you reviewed, but I honestly accidentally made a plothole with that XD lets just go with Peter's accelerated healing, yeah?**

**Anyway, this is just me saying thank you to a few people and the reason why I'm thanking you ;)**

* * *

**_Heir of ice - _You've reviewed every chapter and just been really sweet and kind, so thank you 3 I hope to see you on the prequel!**

**_On your left -_**** You've also reviewed every chapter and just been nice in general, giving me slightly criticism that was needed because my chapters used to be unbelievably short...**

**_AvengersRBetter -_**** You reviewed the prologue, I'm not sure if you're still here but if you are, thank you :)**

**_Konoewpl -_**** You also reviewed the prologue, I hope you're still here as well :)**

**_Childishkidd7 -_**** Again, I'm not sure if you're here XD but I'm glad you enjoyed the prologue and the first actual chapter!**

**_Miss Gaming -_**** I do hope you stayed to see how it went XD **

**_Double 0 Nuthing -_**** Alex Rider reference! Thank you, by the way, for reviewing 3**

**_1611227 -_**** You only reviewed the prologue, but thank you :)**

**_Spideyfangirl123 -_**** The intensity in that one review was just... incredible XD**

**_sarahbeth453 -_**** While you only reviewed to tell me to update... thanks :)**

**_Guest -_**** I have no clue if you're still here, but if you are, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)**

**_foxchick1 -_**** Love your review, yes, you may hug Peter XD**

**_saraj8ne -_**** Just re-read your review and I'm sorry for making you emotional... Yeah, I love plot twists XD**

**_Wisdom and Sea -_**** Another person whom I have no idea if they're still here, but if you are, thank you!**

**_Avenger's fan - _****I don't know fi you're here, but thanks :)**

**_-_**** Your review still makes me incredibly happy when I read it, thank you!**

**_Wingsie -_**** I really hope you're still here, you were so nice 3**

**_Ori -_**** You were new, but still incredibly valued, as I wrote this :) I'm sorry I made you wait for so long though :(**

**And for the 86 of you who favourited this and the 99 of you who followed, I'm sorry I can't mention you, but I may or may not have deleted all my emails XD**

**I hope you enjoyed this book, and I hope to see you all on the sequel, Drowning In Oxygen, on the ****9th of November!**


	19. Next Book Published!

**THE NEXT BOOK IS UP AND PUBLISHED. I REPEAT, THE NEXT BOOK IS UP AND PUBLISHED.**

**I'm sorry it took so long, personal life and whatever, but I hope you guys will read the next book, and if not, thank you for sticking with this one!**

**If you forgot, it's called Drowning In Oxygen (2) (Sequel) and I hope to see you there!**

**Bye! Love you 3000!**


End file.
